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KING AND COMMONWEALTH 



Kin AND COMMONWEALTH 



A HISTORY 

OF 

CHARLES I. AND THE GREAT REBELLION 



B. MERITON CORDERY QrOJ^tkuy^Jl- 



AND 

J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS 

HEAD MASTER OF BEDFORD SCHOOL 
ORMERLY FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD 



Nothing extenuate 
Nor set down aught in malice 



PHILADELPHIA 
JOS. H. COATES AND CO. 

1876 






c\& 



JU/V i 13* 



PEEFACE. 



The aim in "writing this short history has been to give within 
a moderate compass a lively idea of the feelings and motives 
at work in what was perhaps the most important epoch of our 
national history. With this aim it seemed best to treat the 
main events with all that fulness of detail, which assists the 
imagination in realizing the past, and to omit such minor 
actions as seemed not essential to the understanding of the 
main facts. The same rule has been followed in dealing with 
the military history. For this, personal visits have been 
made to the battle-fields, and some rough sketches of the 
ground have been added. "No constitutional question has 
been touched without a preliminary attempt to put the 
growth and forms of the Constitution before the reader in 
such a manner as to encourage him to form a judgment for 
himself. 

In a joint work it is difficult to define exactly the part 
taken by each writer, but my own share in the book may be 
described rather as that of editor than author ; it has, in 
fact, been mainly confined to matters of style and arrange- 



vi PKEFACE. 

ment, with criticisms on events and on constitutional ques- 
tions. My coadjutor, who kindly undertook the subject at my 
suggestion, wrote the first draft of the whole book, and is 
not only responsible for the accuracy of the facts, but de- 
serves all the credit of research into original documents at 
the British Museum and Bodleian libraries. 

While for facts our endeavour has always been to go to 
contemporary records, yet it is impossible that any one can 
write on this period without feeling more obligation to the 
labours of Mr. Eorster than can be adequately expressed in 
foot-notes. Acknowledgement is also due for many sugges- 
tive ideas not only to Hallam and other writers on the 
time, but to Mr. Freeman for the light he has thrown on 
the early history of the English constitution, and to Mr. 
Bagehot for his vivid description of its practical working at 
the present time. 

I cannot conclude without expressing our thanks to Mr. 

B. W. Taylor for some corrections in the proof, to the Bev. 

C. E. Moberly for revising the earlier chapters, and above 
all to the Bishop of Exeter, whose occasional hints have 
given the kiud of help that can only be given by one who 
has not only an accurate knowledge of the facts, but a tho- 
rough grasp of the constitutional questions at issue. 

J. SUBTEES PHILLPOTTS. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAC.} 

I. CONSTITUTIONAL INTRODUCTION. — GOVERNMENTS 

OF ELIZABETH AND JAMES I. . .1 

II. CHARLES' FIRST PARLIAMENTS.— IMPEACHMENT OF 

BUCKINGHAM.— PETITION OF RIGHT (1625—1629) 29 

III. ELEVEN YEARS OF ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT (1629 

—1640) ...... 51 

IV. MEETING OF LONG PARLIAMENT AND TRIAL OF 

STRAFFORD (1640—1641) . ._ . .82 

V. GRAND REMONSTRANCE. —IMPEACHMENT OF FIVE 

MEMBERS (1641—1642) . . . .99 

VI. FIRST YEAR OF THE AVAR. — BATTLES OF EDGEHILL 

AND NEWBURY (1642—1643) . . .123 

VII. RISE OF INDEPENDENTS. — EATTLE OF MARSTON 

MOOR. — SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE (1643 — 1645) 148 
VIII. NASEBY. — END OF AVAR (1645 — 1646) . .179 

IX. PRESBYTERIANS, INDEPENDENTS, ERASTIANS, AND 

THEIR THEORIES . . . . .199 

X. TRIUMPH OF THE ARMY OVER PARLIAMENT. — 

DEATH OF THE KING (1647 — 1649) , .212 

XI. SOCIAL STATE OF ENGLAND .... 248 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XII. TEIUMPHS OF THE COMMONWEALTH BY LAND AND 

SEA (1649—1652) 277 

XIII. FALL OF EEPUBLICANS, AND BAEEBONE'S PAELXA- 

MENT (1651—1653) . . . .303 

XIV. THE FIEST THEEE YEAES OF THE PEOTECTOEATE 

(1654—1656) 328 

XV. THE LAST TWO YEAES OF THE PEOTECTOEATE 

(1656—1658) 347 

XVI. EICHAED CEOMWELL.— ANAECHY.— THE EESTOEA- 

tion (1658—1660) . . . . .367 

APPENDIX ....... 386 

INDEX . . . . . . .39-2 



l, deciding what law is, 
tker it is broken or not. 



Arbitrary 
No trial by jury 



Ecclesiastical 
Courts. No 
trial by jury- 
Legal Arbitrary 



Exchequer 
d by king, 
e judgment 

lo equal law 
out having 



I 
Council 
Board ; 
council- 
lors ap- 
point, d 
and re- 
moved bi 
king 

use of 

torture 



I 
Star 
Cham- 
ber ; 
judges, 
council- 
lors, and 
others 
appoint- 
ed by 
king 



Council 
of North; 
president 
appoint- 
ed by 
king 



Courts of High 



bishops 
who 
were ap 
pointed 
by king 



Commis- 
sion ; 
judges 
appoint- 
ed by 
king 



GOVERNMENT, 



Arlitrary 




Judicial, deciding what law is, 
and whether it is broken or not 
I 



Legal 



Arbitrary 
No trial by jury 



Ecclesiastical 

Courts. No 

trial by jury 

I 

Legal Arlitrary 



I 

Equity 



I 
King who in King who by 
the eye of prerogative 
the law can 
'do no 
wrong ' 



Common law. 
Trial by jury 



makes pro- raises loans, 
IS in chip-money, 
council grants mono- 

polies 



makes trea- 
ties, de- 
clares war, 
but has no 
standing 
army, and 
has no 



arrests by 

personal 
mandate, im- 
prisons with- 
out habeas 
corpus, bil- 
lets soldiers 



Court of 
Chancery ; 
lord chan- 
cellor ap- 
pointed 
by king 



King's Bench Common Pleas Exchequer 
judges appointed and removed by king-, 
b\it by their oaths bound to give judgment council 
according to the laws, and to do equal la 



and execution of 
regard to any person ' 



;ht, without having 



1 

Council 


1 
Star 


1 
Council 


Board ; 


Cham- 


of North; 


council- 


ber ; 


jr sident 


lors ap- 


judges. 


appoint- 


point d 


council- 


ed by 


and re- 


lors, and 


Jang 


moved by 


others 




Icmy 


appoint- 
ed by 




use of 


king 




torture 







Courts of High 
bishops Commis- 
who sion ; 

were ap- judges 
pointed appoint- 
by king ed by 
kin? 



Parliament ; 



I 
Secretaries and coun- 
cillors appointed 
and removed by 
king, but in the 
eye of the law ' re- 
sponsible ;' carry- 
ing out laws and 
collecting revenue 
through their 
agents 



appoints 
lonls-licuten- 
ant, and 
officers of 
militia by 
sea and 
laud 



sheriffs enforce de» 
cisions of judges 



KING AND COMMONWEALTH. 



CHAPTER I. 



CONSTITUTIONAL INTRODUCTION.— GOVERNMENTS OF ELIZA- 
BETH AND JAMES I. 

No people ever was and remained free, but because it was determined to bo 
so; because neitber its rulers nor any other party in tbe nation could 
compel it to be otherwise. If a people — especially one whose freedom has 
not yet become prescriptive — does not value it sufficiently to fight for it 
and maintain it against any force which can be mustered within the 
country, it is only a question in how few years or months that people will 
be enslaved. — Mill, Dissertations and Discussions. 

A people, to be free, must take part in, or possess Three func- 
oontrol over, the three powers of government, Legisla- tlon sofgov- 
tive, Executive, Judicial. As to the first, if they are Legislative, 
to be masters of their persons and properties, neither tive, III" 
laws must be made nor taxes imposed without their Judicial 
consent ; secondly, ministers of the executive, whether councillors 
of state, tax-collectors, military or police officers, must be per- 
sonally responsible to the law courts, or they may infringe with 
impunity the laws the people have secured ; lastly, though per- 
sons and properties be protected by laws, and though ministers 
be liable to prosecution, this protection is nominal only, unless 
the judges who interpret the laws, are sufficiently independent of 
the executive. 

I. Englishmen of the seventeenth century shared in j. Legisia- 
the legislative power with the sovereign, who could make ^ ve - ¥^ er " 

, . , „ & ' „ ties of En- 

no laws without consent of the two Houses of Parlia- giishmenin 

liament. Their properties were protected from arbi- 17th cen5 

trary seizure, their persons from arbitrary imprison- turi es. 

ment, by two statutes, the Magna Charta, first granted by King 

John, and the Confirmatio Chartarum, first granted by Edward I. 



2 CONSTITUTION-I. LEGISLATIVE, [ixxeoduction-. 

These together provide, first, that no person shall be put in 
prison without legal warrant, or kept there without being brought 
to trial according to the laws of the land ; that is, that the question 
of law shall be decided by the established judge of the law ; 
secondly, that the question of fact, whether a man accused at the 
suit of the crown, has, or has not, committed the crime laid to 
his charge, shaU be decided by a jury of twelve of his country- 
men ; and lastly, that no taxes of any sort shall be imposed with- 
out consent of Parliament. 

Classes re- Several classes of the nation shared indirectly in the 
tZZ^ul government by being represented in Parliament. In 
" the Upper House sat the temporal and spiritual lords 
of the realm in their own right. To the Lower House aU the fifty- 
two counties of England and Wales, with the exception of Dur- 
ham, returned two members each, elected by freeholders possessed 
of lands or tenements to the annual value of 40s* The term 
Freeholders freeholder included two classes, holders of land by 
feudaf ten- kni g nt ' s service, and holders of land by free socage, f 
yeomen d Tlie first class was com P ose d of feudal tenants, gentle- 
men by birth, who had originally held land in return 
for military service, and whose tenure was still subject to several 
irksome burdens. The second class was composed of yeomen, 
men of ignoble blood, but with a tenure dating from feudal 
times. The Normans of the conquest would have thought it 
beneath them to hold land by any other than a military tenure. 
But in many cases they permitted the despised Saxons to remain 
in possession of their lands, sometimes on condition of performing 
agricultural services which soon took the form of a fixed annual 
rent ; sometimes on condition merely of taking an oath of fealty 
and paying occasional fines. Thus in England there sprang up 
in quite early times an independent class who were owners of the 
soil, and though not of gentle birth, sat on juries, voted at county 
elections, and attended the courts in which freeholders met to- 
gether to transact the business of their county. 

• Money was about four times its present value, that is, one shilling 
then could purchase as much food or other necessaries of life as four 
shillings now; so this would now represent land which would bring in £8 a 
year as rent and cost say £2oO to buy. 

t Socagers probably derived froin Saxon soc, "liberty," "privilege," 
J/^« 1Se U» 8 ° c ?9ers were bound to attend the court of the lord to whose 
soc or "right" of justice they belonged. 



constitution.] REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT. 3 

Besides county representatives, the House of Com- Burgesses, 
mons contained over four hundred members, returned according 
to usage by certain privileged towns. These were the classes 
possessed of political rights. Below these were the whole mass of 
the unenfranchised — hired labourers, tenants at will, and copy- 
holders.* These were the descendants of those Saxons Copyhoid- 
whom the Normans had reduced to a state of serfdom ; hired 
and, unlike freeholders, were incapable either of sitting labourei * 
on juries or voting at elections. For the last hundred sen ted. 
years, however, they had nearly all been free, and were protected 
in person and property by the same laws as freeholders. 

All classes being thus possessed of the same liberties, their 
common freedom gave them common interests, and caused them 
to unite in spite of social distinctions, and oppose the establish- 
ment of arbitrary government. 

In France the political condition of the people was No privi- 
inferior to that of the English, and thi° mainly from leged c ass ' 
want of union and fellow-feeling between the different ranks into 
which French society was divided. There was no class answeriug 
to the English yeomanry ; the feudal tenants were a noble and pri- 
vileged class, and were divided by this barrier of privilege from 
their unfortunate inferiors in rank, on whom the main burden 
of direct taxation fell ; as the inequalities of taxation increased, 
the different classes became more and more isolated, and thus 
the kings, never meeting with combined resistance from the 
whole body of their subjects, came by degrees to usurp absolute 
power, to impose taxes at will, and to govern without the aid of 
any national assembly. 

f II. A people are little benefited by the possession of n. Execu- 
good laws, unless those laws are respected and obeyed jj™ ^w£ r 
by those who are entrusted with the execution of them, cised by a 
The executive power was then, as now, exercised by of the legis- 
ministers of the crown. But in the course of two cen- lature « 
turies the position of these ministers has been totally changed. 
The queen's ministers are now in such close harmony with the 
Parliament, that they have been denned as a committee of the 

* The copyholder held land of the lord of the manor, subject to certain 
restrictions and agricultural services enumerated in the copy of the roll of 
the estate. So long as he performed those services he might not be dis- 
possessed. 

1-2 



4 CONSTITUTION— II. EXECUTIVE, [introduction. 

legislature.* Chosen out of the predominant party in Parlia- 
ment, they conduct the government only so long as they can 
command a majority of votes in the Lower House. If their 
measures are outvoted, they have no choice but to resign office, 
or by obtaining a dissolution, to appeal to a new Parliament for 
renewal of the support which is their only claim to power. 
Executive ^ n ^e sixteenth century, on the contrary, the exe- 
in i6th cen- cutive power lay entirely in the hands of the king, who 
cised by the settled all questions of administration, made peace and 
crown. war ^ appointed and dismissed officers of state, and ex- 

pended the revenue, uncontrolled by the representatives of the 
people. Yet, great as was the power thus exercised by the crown, 
two safeguards were provided against its abuse. The first was 
Two safe- negative, the absence of a standing army in England, 
guards. In France absolute power was upheld by an army, 
army in recruited in part by foreigners, and officered solely by 
England. nobles ; this army the king found no difficulty in 
maintaining, as he imposed taxes at pleasure. No such right, 
however, belonged to English monarchs, who were without the 
funds necessary for the support of a standing army ; and it was 
only by means of a standing army, possessed with an ' esprit de 
corps ' of its own, and divided in interest from the people, that 
arbitrary government could be permanently established. The 
House of Commons always originated money bills ; they held, 
therefore, the purse-strings of the nation, and were careful only to 
grant supplies sufficient for the ordinary purposes of government. 

* Though this is substantially true as a contrast to the position of the 
ministry in the 16th century, it would be a great mistake to disregard the 
influence of the forms under which the constitution works, (i.) Even now 
the control of the Commons is not so great as it seems. The ministers are 
not mere delegates, for Parliament controls rather than directs ; it has no 
right to tell the Queen's ministers what to do, though it can veto their pro- 
posals, and censure them for their acts when done ; the initiative remains 
with the cabinet, (n.) The influence of the crown is more than it seems, 
(i.) It has a voice in discussing despatches which settle foreign policy, (ii.) 
Though it cannot exclude from office a man who has made himself indis- 
pensable to the nation, it has, no doubt, a negative voice in the selection of 
the less conspicuous members of the cabinet, and thus exercises a real, 
though imperceptible, influence on the attitude of rising politicians. 

The form is always of vast importance in constitutional questions. The 
popular influence, which seems to be the substantial power, is the wind that 
fills the sails and gives the motion ; but the exact direction of the motion 
must still depend in a large measure on the helmsman. The shipwreck of 
the 17th century came from an attempt to sail in the teeth of the wind. A 
skilful helmsman may do much by gaining and losing tacks, but the Stuarts 
were not skilful. 



constitution.] SAFEGUAKDS— DANGER OF ABUSE. 5 

The principles of the constitution contained a second and posi- 
tive safeguard against the abuse of the regal power. (2) Respon- 
Great lawyers had long since declared that the king, J 1 ^*" 7 ° f 
like his subjects, was bound to respect the laws. " The ministers, 
king," Bracton wrote as early as the thirteenth century, " also 
hath a superior, namely God, and also the law, by which he was 
made a king." It was not likely, however, that the subject 
would have either the power or the desire to arraign sovereigns 
themselves before courts of law. A fiction of the lawyers in- 
tervened and gave a better means of securing the same end. 
This fiction was that the " king could do no wrong." From this 
it followed that if wrong was done, the ministers, and not 
the king, must have advised and executed the wrong ; ministers 
could not screen themselves behind the king's name ; if they 
broke the laws in the performance of their functions, though, 
it was at the king's bidding, they were still liable to be sued 
by the injured parties in a court of justice. 

Still these safeguards had not been found sufficient Liberties 
to prevent the executive, from violating the law. In (i) inega| e ' 
the first place, several powers, sometimes simply op- P mvei * ex- 
pressive, sometimes actually illegal, were regarded as crown, 
belonging to the crown in right of the royal prerogative. By 
these both the subject's property and liberty were endangered. 
Thus the king, though he dared not tax without consent of 
Parliament, used to borrow large sums under the name of loans 
which were seldom repaid. Both the king and his council im- 
prisoned without showing legal cause. Proclamations were made 
by the King in Council, which, though regarded as temporary 
measures only, were in matter of fact laws, and sometimes had 
penalties attached to them for disobedience. So again, though 
the use of torture was not lawful by the common law, and 
contrary to several statutes, State prisoners were constantly put 
to the rack on the strength of warrants signed by the king. 

In the second place, though the law allowed the subject to seek 

redress, the redress was rarely attainable. Pew dared to incur 

the king's displeasure by attacking the conduct of his ( 2 ) Judges 

servants, and if they did, juries were often intimidated,* uponcrown. 

judges were often corrupt. The strength of the chain is the- 

* Under the Tudors, juries bad been fined and imprisoned for deciding 
against tbe crown. If they decided for the crown, though unjustly, they 
could not be punished, because thej could not have been tampered with by- 
ike sovereign ! 



6 CONSTITUTION— III. JUDICATURE, [introduction. 

strength of its weakest point. The weak point of the English 
constitution lay in the dependence of the judges upon the crown ; 
unless the interpreters of the laws were independent, no law 
could ever effectually secure the liberties of the people. 
(3) Arbi- -^- nc * * n * ne third place, besides the common law 

trary courts, other courts of justice existed, in which the ac- 

cused was neither tried by jury nor sentenced according 
to known laws. 

in. Judi- Omitting the Court of Chancery, which had no juris- 
ciai. diction in political cases, there were then, as now, three 

chief courts of justice, the King's Bench, the Common Pleas, and 
the Exchequer, all of which sat at Westminster ; four or five 
judges belonged to each, who in all cases were bound to give 
judgment, not according to their own pleasure, or the will of the 
king, but according to the law of the realm, whether statute or 
common law.* 

Since the Act of Settlement in 1702 the common law judges 
hold office for life, receive salaries fixed by law, and can only be 
dismissed from office if convicted of some offence, or in conse- 
quence of an address of the two Houses of Parliament. But in 
the seventeenth century they only held office at the pleasure of 
the king, and being dependent in part upon his bounty for their 
salaries, were regarded as the servants of the court, f 

But these courts at any rate acknowledged the known laws, and 
tried prisoners by jury. Of a very different character was the 
Court of Star Chamber, so called because its sittings were 
held in a room leading out of Westminster Hall, of which 
the walls were decorated with stars. The germ of this court 
lay in a jurisdiction exercised from the time of Edward III. 
by the king's Common Council, which was accustomed to call 
to account offenders too powerful to be brought to submit to 
the ordinary courts of law. Then came a second stage. An 
Act of Parliament was passed in the reign of Henry VII. (1491), 
forming a court of justice, composed of certain members of the 

* The common law consists of customs banded down from Norman times, 
and of the judgments of judges founded upon those customs ; statute law of 
acts of Parliament. 

f Thus in James' time the Admiralty judge acknowledges the receipt of 
instructions, "by which I understand his Majesty's resolution to continue 
Sir John Eliot in prison. I am glad I did forbear to deliver my opinion of 
the state of bis cause, lest perhaps it might have differed somewhat." — 
Forster's Eliot, i. ii. 4. 



Elizabeth ] STAR CHAMBER— HIGH COMMISSION. 7 

council, and entrusted with powers of judging cases of riots, the 
bribing of juries, and other specified offences. This second stage 
gave a parliamentary sanction to the court, but limited its powers 
and specified its persons. It was out of this chrysalis that the 
Court of Star Chamber emerged. By the end of Henry the 
Eighth's reign, it had reached its third, or final stage, in which 
it boasted parliamentary sanction, at the same time that it re- 
pudiated the conditions under which that sanction had been 
given. The limits of persons and of offences had both disap- 
peared. The powers formerly vested only in the members of the 
court of Henry VII. had silently passed into the hands of the 
whole body of the Common Council,* while its jurisdiction had 
been extended beyond the offences specified by the statute to 
cases of breach of trust, fraud, and libel. 

Besides the Court of Star Chamber, there was a second court, 
the Court of High Commission, which deprived the subject of 
the protection granted him by the common law, and of trial by 
jury. After Henry VIII. quarrelled with Pope Clement VII. 
about a divorce from Catherine of Arragon, Parliament passed 
an Act of Supremacy, declaring the king the supreme head 
of the Church. This was re-enacted when Elizabeth came to 
the throne (1558), and an addition made to it, granting the 
queen power to appoint persons to exercise jurisdiction in eccle- 
siastical affairs, as, for instance, in the reformation of heresies 
and abuses. Elizabeth, therefore, was acting within her powers 
when, in 1583, she erected a permanent commission, consisting of 
twelve bishops, privy councillors, and others ; but she undoubt- 
edly was straining her power when she gave this court an au- 
thority — not granted her by the statute — to try suspected persons 
by juries, or by any other means they could devise, and to punish 
by fine and imprisonment. Thus, while the Court of Star 
Chamber, by judging cases of libel, deprived the subject of 
liberty of speech, the Court of High Commission deprived him 
of liberty of conscience. Both alike, therefore, soon came to be 
hated by the people ; both were distinctly contrary to Magna 
Charta, for in neither was the accused tried by jury or by the 
laws of the land ; both were contrary to the first axioms of jus- 

* The king had two councils: his Privy Council, which advised with him 
in all State matters, and his Common Council. In the Common Council sat, 
not only all members of the Privy Council, but also some of the common law 
[judges, and others added at the pleasure of the king. 



8 EELIGIOUS DIFFEEENCES-EEFORMATION. [.iizabetb. 

tice, the separation of accuser and judge, for in these courts the 
rmmsters of the crown first prosecuted a man in their capacity of 
jiXes ^selves passed sentence upon him as 

Queen Elizabeth was not disposed to yield up any powers 

^ thin Xe fi had be0n eXerCiS6d by hCT P-«— on 
the thione She, however, was careful not to strain them be- 
yond what the temper of the nation would bear. Though sh. 
StSfSkh °™ n ™! atedth e rights of individuals, she never at- 
SSLtaS,° h , tacked tho ^ of large numbers at once, and always 
££&. Cpt ° n S ° 0d tems with her Parliaments, by making 

ill w Tf T -1 timCS When a refusal would ha ™ ^used 
lil-fcehng. But notwithstanding the tact with which her govern- 
ment was conducted, as the people increased in knowledge and 
wealth, they grew more and more sensitive to infringements 
of then- rights, and gave signs that through their representative, 
the House of Commons, they would soon call upon the crown 
to resign the powers it had usurped to the great detriment of the 
suojects liberty. 

br^klw ^^tare should make laws, and the executive 

b wee,, « ' T a SUffiC ' ent CaUSe iD itS6lf t0 P rod «^ a rupture 
between the two powers. The probability, however, of such a 

uar^ TZ W inCTeaSed * the fect ** a "^ d - -or 
quarrel existed between the crown and the Parliament-religious 

SSL SdS?. lD f nSknd ' the Eeformatio » had !>»». 
directed b T f° aouDt > a popular movement, as it had been abroad • 
u,e E„ g , is „ but it was controlled and directed by a monarchy 

The o™ J" bUt a Part!al apathy ™«i its aims. 

The consequence was an exceeding moderation. The kin* was 
made head ofthe Church in place of the pope ; the monaster! s 
were dissolved ; the clergy were allowed to marry ; the doctrine 

efemcnf 2T" ^ " ™ S tk&t ° l a P^ sical ch »S e * the 
from cl V Jframent; images and crosses were removed 

iZ own f 6 ^ ^ Pe ? P ' e W6re aU ° Wed t0 ^ad the Bible in 
sZiZl S " e ; f 1 f Dglish Ht " rg y was imposed; and the 

™£t>TZT%u ds of the Church > said > aS tt ™ re ' t0 «» 

Peope, Thus fax shall ye go, and no farther.' But no sooner 
" P T eS fiU ' Sbed their WOT k, than a new set of reformers 
arose, preaching another, fuller, more popular reformation. 

The mam principle of the reformers was to get rid of those 



1558-1603.J NO TOLEKATION. 9 

superstitious observances which marred the freedom Popu i ar i 
of the worshipper's communicating with his Maker ; reformers 
they did not believe in the necessity of priestly in- popish 
tervention, nor in the special sanctity of prayers in ceremorues - 
a foreign tongue. On the continent, this principle had been 
carried much further than in England ; and when exiles, who 
had fled the country during the persecutions of Mary's reign, 
returned home from Flanders, Strasburg, or Geneva, they 
regarded the English Church as hardly deserving the name 
of reformed. ' How many signs of Eomish superstition,' they 
said, ' are left in the prayer-book, and the services ! What 
abuses yet remain in administration ! Look at the plurality 
of benefices. How can one man be in a dozen places at a time ? 
Are the clergy still to flaunt the priestly surplice and gaudy 
popish vestments, foolish and abominable apparel, in which the 
Catholic priests pretend to make mere water holy, to achieve 
a miraculous transformation of bread and wine, or to conjure the 
devil out of persons and places possessed 1 Is the communion- 
table not to stand, table-like, in the body of the church, but to 
be set up in the chancel like the altar of the papists 1 Shall the 
sign of the cross in baptism, the bowing at the name of Jesus, 
the ring in marriage, the keeping of saints' days, all these re- 
mains of popish superstitions, be observed in a church that calls 
itself reformed ! Surely the snake is only scotched, not killed.' 

Elizabeth, on the contrary, while she regarded the authority of 
her bishops as a support to the power of the crown, also hoped, by 
disallowing further change in church ceremonies, to No 
conciliate Catholics. Her ecclesiastical power was ab- ai!owed°by 
solute. She, therefore, refused to give the Puritans Elizabeth, 
satisfaction even in matters of form. If the Puritan minister 
would officiate at the services of the Church, he must wear vest- 
ments he abhorred ; if he would baptize a child, he must make 
the sign of the cross ; if he would join two people in marriage, 
he must use the ring ; in all points, he must conform exactly to 
the minutise of the rubric. 

The Act of Supremacy was a double-edged sword, Act of 
cruel to Puritans and Catholics alike. All clergymen Supremacy, 
holding benefices, all laymen, holding office in the State, who re- 
fused to take an oath, when tendered, recognizing the queen as- 
hsad of the Church, were to be deprived of their benefices or 



10 RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES— PRESBYTERIANS. [Elizabeth. 

Actof offices (1558). The Act of Uniformity forbade ministers, 

Uniformity, beneficed or not, to use any other than the established 
liturgy ; for the first offence, they forfeited all their goods and 
chattels ; for the second, they suffered a year's imprisonment ; 
for the third, imprisonment for life ; while fines were imposed 
upon laymen who stayed away from their parish church on 
Sundays or holidays (1559). 

But persecution, instead of suppressing the reformers, only in- 
creased their numbers and animosity. From attacking cere- 
monies, they went on to attack the authority of the 
desire^esta- bishops. If the Holy Scriptures, they said, contain all 
of'presb" 4 things necessary for salvation, then where in them is 
terian to be found mention of that proud hierarchy of arch- 

bishops, bishops, and priests, by which the English 
Church is governed ? Turning their eyes towards Scotland, they 
there saw established a church on a Presbyterian model, go- 
verned by assemblies of ministers and lay elders on less hierarchi- 
cal principles than the Episcopal. For this model they claimed 
the authority of a Divine Eight, as being the original form of 
church government established by the will of God in the time of 
the apostles. 

To the queen, this new programme of reform, attacking, as it 
did, not only episcopal authority, but her own prerogative as 
head of the Church, was still more distasteful than that which 
had required merely a reform of ceremonies. 

An established church may be either self -governed or governed 
Episcopal by the State. The Episcopal Church was a State church in 
Church the fullest sense of the term ; archbishops and bishops, 
upon the like ministers of state, were appointed by the sove- 
state. reign ; no laws to regulate the conduct of the laity in 

spiritual matters could emanate from any source but the queen 
in Parliament ; and, in fact, there was no spiritual authority dis- 
Presby- tinct from the State. On the other hand, the Presby- 
Cilurch in- ter i arL Church prided itself on being self -governed, 
dependent According to this system, every parish had its minister, 

of State . ° . J ' •-', „ . ,. 

control. its deacon, and its lay elder, together forming a little 
court of justice, or kirk session, which called parishioners to ac- 
count for spiritual and moral offences, such as drunkenness, 
scolding, or Sabbath-breaking ; and punished by censures, fines, 
or imprisonment. So many parishes formed a presbytery ; so 



1558-1603.] DIVINE EIGHT OF KINGS. 11 

many presbyteries formed a province, and both presbytery and 
province possessed a distinct judicial assembly, composed of lay 
elders and ministers. Lastly, there was a general assembly of 
the church, composed of all the ministers of parishes, together 
with a sprinkling of lay elders, and to this body appeals were 
made from the judicial decisions of the lesser assemblies. The 
orders and regulations made by the general assembly of the 
church were binding upon the whole nation, clergy and laity. 
This church had been established in Scotland by rebellion, and 
its ministers did not hesitate to set up their own authority in op- 
position to that of king and State. " Disregard not our threat- 
ening," they said to James VI., " for there was never yet one in 
this realm, in the place where your grace is, who prospered after 
the ministers began to threaten him." 

Of these two systems, the Episcopal form of church govern- 
ment, though less popular, was also less tyrannical 
than the Presbyterian. The powers of English bishops church less 
were far more limited than those of Scottish assem- t^nThe^ 
blies. The Church of Scotland, however, which gave Presby- 

terian. 

power to the ministers of the people, instead of to 
courtly prelates, suited the enthusiasm of the age, and naturally 
recommended itself to the more earnest reformers on this side 
the border. Rejoiced to find that Elizabeth regarded the Pres- 
byterians as rebellious fanatics, the bishops on their side now set 
up a counter claim of Divine Eight in favour of the Episcopal 
Church as administered by the queen ; and, in return Bishops 
for the privilege of fining, imprisoning, and ejecting poJErof 116 
nonconformists, taught the people that kings rule by the crown. 
Divine Eight, as the viceregents of God upon earth, and that 
opposition to the commands of princes is disobedience to the 
commands of God. 

But Puritan ministers, though deprived of their livings, could 
not be silenced. They thought the whole state of so- „ . ± 

iruntfiTm 

ciety and religion in England needed to be penetrated cannot be 
with a new spirit. Themselves eager readers of their su PP ressed - 
Bibles, zealous preachers, active reformers, filled with true mis- 
sionary zeal, they found that the court and nobility cared little 
for serious matters, and that noblemen and gentlemen spent their 
time in gaming, in dancing, in attending grand shows, or in fight- 
ing on the continent. They aimed at a social as well as a religious 



12 KELIGIOUS DIFFEKENCES— SECTARIANS, [elizabeth. 

reform. Printing had largely increased the numbers of readers and 
writers, and had at the same time extended the range not only 
of serious but also of profane literature. It was an age of poets. 
There were two hundred living in the last part of the century, 
Spenser and Shakespeare amongst them. The middle classes 
followed the same kind of amusements as their superiors, fre- 
quenting the bear-garden, the bowling-green, the gaming-house, 
and the theatre. The country people had their wakes and fairs 
and festivals. Amidst so much rioting and pleasuring the 
Puritans saw few ministers competent to lead the people to more 
serious paths. The clergy, so far from checking the freedom of 
society, were as eager in the pursuit of amusement as their 
parishioners : before the Reformation their incapacity had been 
the reproach of the Catholic Church ; it was now equally the 
reproach of the newly established Church. Many Catholics, 
rather than lose their livings, had taken the oaths required of 
them — were they reformed 1 While they passed their time in 
taverns, gaming and drinking, they were not likely to acquire 
the new art of preaching. " Dumb dogs," said the Puritans, are 
" left to guard the Church, while we are turned out." In many 
villages no sermon was heard " from year's end to year's end." 
Such a church seemed to invite reform ; and the Presbyterians 
were ready for the task. Persecution not going far enough to 
extirpate the reformers, only attracted the minds of others to the 
consideration of the questions in dispute, and discussion led to more 
advanced views on reform. Episcopacy was generally the religion 
of the upper classes. Presbyterian opinions prevailed amongst 
the middle ranks ; and now the very poorest of the 
nation began also to have their special ideas on reli- 
gious questions. Men, women, and children, poor people who 
had nothing to support them but their handicrafts and trades, 
would in summer-time meet in the fields outside London at five 
o'clock in the morning, and in winter in private houses, in order 
to worship after their own fashion. Every congregation, they 
maintained, however small, ought to be left free to settle its own 
affairs, without interference from either bishops or assemblies. 
Amongst these latest reformers were several distinct sects, which, 
without holding the same doctrines, agreed in their general view 
of church government ; and being taught by weakness to com- 
bine together in spite of minor differences of opinion, were the 



2558-1603.1 PKOTESTANT EOEEIGN POLICY. 13 

first to raise the flag of ' liberty of conscience.' More cruelty 
used than Presbyterians, many of these sectarians fled the country 
for Holland, where they established churches on their own prin- 
ciples. Those who stayed in England ran the risk of imprison- 
ment for life. 

In spite, however, of persecution, the reformers were Elizabeth 
devotedly loyal to the queen. For though, through supports 
political motives, she persecuted Puritans at home, causes" 
abroad she supported the Protestants in the fierce contiaent - 
conflict they were waging with Catholicism. On one side were 
arrayed the pope, the King of Spain, the Emperor of Austria, 
the Catholic princes of Germany ; on the other, Sweden, Den- 
mark, Holland, and the Protestant German princes ; and it was 
chiefly owing to the support of England that this side was able 
to maintain its ground against the Catholics. 

The popes had long desired to force back into their fold the 
country that was thus recognized ?s the head of Protestant 
States. Pius V. had said he wished he could shed his blood in 
an expedition against England ; and now Gregory XIII. urged 
on Philip II. of Spain to attempt the conquest of the heretic 
kingdom. He could not have found a prince or nation more suited 
for his purpose. The Spaniards and English hated one another 
with a national as well as a religious hatred. A love of enter- 
prize and discovery had spread rapidly amongst all classes during 
Elizabeth's long reign. Adventurers, led often by noblemen and 
gentlemen, sailed to America and the West Indies, making fruit- 
less efforts to discover gold mines, or to found colonies. Enmity 
On these expeditions they burnt the settlements and spahTand 
seized the treasure ships of the Spaniards, who, being England, 
already possessed of Mexico, Peru, and much of the West Indies, 
regarded themselves as sole lords of the New World, and were 
quite prepared for a war to the knife with the intruders. 

It was thus to fight the battle at once of the pope and of the 
nation that the Invincible Armada sailed from Spain. It sailed 
to take vengeance on a heretic queen, who, while supporting the 
Dutch in rebellion, disputed the claims of Philip to the possession 
of two continents. It came threatening England with conquest 
and Protestantism with destruction. But storms and winds and 
the courage of English seamen shattered and destroyed the 
Armada (1588). The triumph of England was the salvation of 



14 JAMES I.— ACCESSION. [james I. 

the Protestant cause. The invaded now becoming the invaders, 
burned Spanish galleons in the very harbours of Spain. 

"With the people success will go far to justify even a 
poUcy a ' tyrannical government. Hence it was that, although 
ofEiiza" Se storms were rising, and the political atmosphere was 
beth's po- charged with electricity, no violent contention ever 

Dul&ritv 

arose between Elizabeth and her subjects. The oc- 
casional illegal acts committed by her government, the cruel 
sentences passed upon Puritans by the courts of High Commis- 
sion and Star Chamber, were forgiven because she pursued a 
foreign policy that accorded with the wishes of the nation, and 
caused England to be feared and respected. The bonds of loyalty 
seemed strong because they had not been tried too severely. It 
is a principle in mechanics that girders should not be strained 
beyond the limits of perfect recovery. An excessive tension may 
not only cause danger for the moment, but may be a source of 
permanent weakness. Such a tension came when the nation was 
ruled by monarchs who had neither the capacity to lead their 
Parliaments nor the temper to follow them. 

James I ^ u *^ e death of Elizabeth the great Tudor line was 

ins charac- extinct.* James VI. of Scotland, who outwardly united 
the two kingdoms, failed to unite his subjects to him- 
self. He was thought cowardly, conceited, pretentious. It was 
believed that flattery was the readiest road to his favour ; he 
certainly suffered himself to fall under the control of unworthy 
favourites, so that his court received the character of being the 
head-quarters of riot and vice, if not of far darker crimes. 
* Henry VII., 1492- -1509. 



Henry VIII., 1509—1548. Margaret= James IV. of Scotland. 

Edward VI. Mary. Elizabeth. James V. of Scotland. 

1548—1553. 1553— i558. 1558—1603. | 

Mary, Queen= Lord 
of Scots. I Darnley, 
— ■ ' H. Stuart. 

James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, 1603—1625. 

Charles I., 1625—1649. Elizabeth=Frederick. 

I I 



Charles II. Mary. James II. Chaa Lcuis. Kupert. . Sophia. 



1603-1625.] AEBITKAEY GOVERNMENT. 15 

The members of the Commons refused to grant the money of 
the nation to be lavished on such favourites or wasted in such 
riot. James, therefore, did not trouble himself with often meet- 
ing the representatives of the peop'e. Holding the theory that 
he was possessed of absolute power, he ventured to try to carry that 
theory into practice. A few instances will show the manner in 
which the liberties of the subject were violated by his government. 

His first Parliament granted him for life duties on exports and 
imports, called tonnage and poundage (1604). These Jamegim . 
duties were fixed at a certain rate ; for instance, there poses nie- 
was a duty of 2s. 6d. on every hundred-weight of ga 
currants imported into the country. James, of his sole authority, 
trebled this duty, and afterwards, without asking the consent of 
Parliament, imposed heavy taxes upon almost all merchandise. In 
principle there is no distinction between the illegal levying of 
a direct or an indirect tax. The ignorant, however, are much 
more struck by that which comes plainly before them. Hence, 
had James attempted to raise a direct tax, such as the subsidies 
granted in Parliament, which were levied on land and articles of 
personal property, he would have aroused far more indignation 
than he did by the imposition of illegal customs. The subsidy 
must have been paid directly into the hands of the tax-gatherer, 
whereas the illegal duties were paid in the first instance by the 
merchants, and the fact that these merchants repaid themselves 
out of the profits of the consumer by raising prices, was not 
obvious to the vulgar. The people, however, really suffered in 
purse as well as in right, and Parliament would have been 
wanting in its duty, if it had not protested against this inter- 
ference with the property of the subject. 

The person of the subject was no safer than his property. 

It is contrary to the common law of England to force any 
man to criminate himself. The Courts of High Commission 
and Star Chamber, however, did not follow the procedure of the 
common law courts, and were in the habit of tendering the 
prisoner an oath, technically called the oath ex officio, to answer 
truly all questions put to him. Two Puritans, for refusing to 
take this oath, were imprisoned by the Court of High Commission. 
The common law allowed every man committed to illegal com- 
prison upon a criminal charge, to apply to the court of mit ments. 
King's Bench for a so-called writ of habeas corpus, directing the- 



16 HIGH COMMISSION— FULLER'S CASE. [james i, 

gaoler to produce his prisoner and the warrant upon which he 
was committed, before the court on a stated day.* The judge, 
upon view of the warrant, discharged the prisoner, released him 
on bail, or sent him back to prison to await his trial, according 
as the charge against him was no offence in the eye of the law, 
or a bailable offence, or one for which no bail could be received. 

The two Puritans in question were brought before the judges 
of the King's Bench on a writ of habeas corpus. Fuller, their 
Arbitrary counsel, argued that they ought to be released, because 
procedure the High Commissioners had not been empowered by 
Higii Com- law to imprison, or fine, or administer the oath ex 
mission. officio. This argument struck at the root of the au- 
thority of the High Commission, and Fuller was himself sum- 
moned before the court, on the ground that he had slandered 
the king's authority. He refused, like his clients, to take the 
oath, " to answer truly all questions put to him," and applied to 
the Court of King's Bench for a prohibition to stay the proceed- 
ings. It was by means of such prohibitions that the common 
law courts were accustomed to prevent the ecclesiastical courts 
from meddling with cases which properly came under the cogni- 
zance of the common law. The judges sent the prohibition, but 
s.t the same time signified that they should not interfere, if the 
High Commissioners charged the prisoner with heresy and 
schism. The Puritan advocate was accordingly convicted of 
heresy, fined £200, and committed to prison. The common law 
judges would not interfere in his favour, though he appealed 
again to them, and he seems, eventually, to have regained his 
liberty only by submitting, and paying the fine.f 

The Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, however 
illegally their jurisdiction was acquired and conducted, at least 
brought definite charges against the accused, and allowed him a 

* Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum are the first words of the writ to the 
gaoler, meaning that he is to have the person (of the prisoner) to produce 
before the court (so habeas corpus ad testificandum are the first words of a 
writ for producing a prisoner to give evidence). The writ was anciently 
called corpus cum causa, because it required the return of the cause of de- 
tention, as well as of the body imprisoned. The principle of the writ was 
contained in the Magna Charta of King John, which enacted that "no 
freeman should be imprisoned but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the 
law of the land." It was used between subject and subject in the time of 
Henry VI., and against the crown in that of Henry VII., so that it was 
fully recognized as law long before the re-enactments in the reign of 
Charles I., and the Habeas Corpus Act of Charles II., 1679. 

t Gardiner, Hist, of Eng. (1603—1616), i. 445. 



1611.] ARABELLA STUAKT. 17 

form of trial. The King's Council went even further than 
this, and constantly committed political opponents of Arbitrary 
the government, without bringing any charge against King's 0t - 
them, or allowing them the benefit of a trial. The Council, 
imprisonment extended from weeks, or months, to years, and the 
writ of habeas corjms, which ought to have protected any subject 
from such an outrage, was rarely obtainable. In the case of 
Arabella Stuart, the causeless displeasure of the king formed the 
ground of a life-long imprisonment. This lady, who was first 
cousin to James, married, through pure affection, a distant rela- 
tion, William Seymour, a descendant of Mary, the youngest 
daughter of Henry VII. James, jealous of the union Case of 
of two relations, both of whom had a distant claim to Jjabeiia 
the crown, confined Seymour in the Tower, and placed Stuart. 
Arabella in confinement at Lambeth. Both made their escape, 
with the intention of meeting at Leigh, near Blackwall, on 
board a French vessel, which was engaged to carry them across 
the Channel. Arabella arrived before her husband, and, in spite 
of her entreaties, her attendants, in fear of pursuit, forced the 
captain to sail. Seymour, on his arrival, finding the French 
vessel gone, hired a collier, and was landed in safety at Ostend. 
Arabella was not so fortunate. When Within sight of Calais, a 
vessel, sent from Dover in pursuit, overtook the fugitive, and 
carried her back to England. On her arrival, she was immedi- 
ately committed to the Tower, whence she wrote to the two 
chief justices, imploring them to secure her a trial by the usual 
writ of habeas corpus : " And if your lordships may not, or will 
not, grant unto me the ordinary relief of a distressed subject, 
then, I beseech you, become humble intercessors to his Majesty, 
that I may receive such benefit of justice as both his Majesty by 
his oath hath promised, and the laws of this realm afford to all 
others, those of his blood not excepted. And though, unfortunate 
woman ! I can obtain neither, yet, I beseech your lordships, re- 
tain me in your good opinion, and judge charitably, till I be 
proved to have committed any offence, either against God or his 
Majesty, deserving so long restraint or separation from my lawful 
husband.''" Arabella's just demand remained ungranted. Her 
marriage was no crime at law, and had she been brought before 
the judges, they could hardly have done less than order her re- 
lease. The idea of attempting to change the succession would 

2 



18 A PIEATE CASE. [james i. 

have been ludicrous, if true, but there was no ground for suspicion 
of political motive in the marriage to give a shadow of excuse for 
her restraint. Separated from her husband, and broken-hearted,. 
Arabella lost her reason, and, after some four years of confine- 
ment, at last died in the Tower. 

The Countess of Shrewsbury, Arabella's aunt, was brought up 
before the council, on the charge of being an accomplice in her 
niece's escape. Kef using to implicate herself, by answering- 
in any way to a charge so unknown to the law, she bravely re- 
plied, that, if the council had a charge against her, she would be 
ready to answer before her peers. Such an appeal to the hated 
liberties of the subject was not suffered to pass unpunished, and 
for several years her name appears in the list of unhappy in- 
mates of the Tower. 

It was not only the king's animosity which was to be dreaded, 
but the greed of the court. The interests of the nation were bought 
and sold by courtiers and ministers. Several of James' council 
were in receipt of salaries from the King of Spain. Others were 
in a nefarious league with the pirates who then preyed on our 
shipping. The story of Sir John Eliot and Captain Nutt sheds a 
flood of light on various judicial and executive anomalies of the 
reign. In 1623 Eliot was Vice-admiral of Devon. Amongst 
his duties were those of boarding pirate vessels, and deciding 
upon the lawfulness of prizes. Captain Nutt, an English pirate, 
who, at the head of several ships, had for three years past ranged 
the seas between the coasts of England and America, was noto- 
rious alike for audacity and cruelty. Sailing to Torbay and 
landing in force whenever he came ashore, he dared the vice- 
admiral to seize him, and boasted of the pardons he had already 
obtained. Armed with a copy of one of these pardons, con- 
ditional on the captain's surrendering himself within a cer- 
tain time, Eliot risked his life and went on board the pirate 
vessel. There was little doubt that the time within which 
the pardon was valid was already past, but Nutt, acting probably 
on the supposition that Eliot could only be influenced by merce- 
nary motives, agreed to surrender himself, and to pay a fine of 
£500, together with six packs of calves' skins. If the pardon 
were good, the fine would be shared between the vice-admiral,. 
Eliot, and the lord-admiral, Buckingham. Directly the man was- 
ashore, Eliot placed him under arrest, and then wrote an account 



J033.J IMPEISONMENT OF ELIOT. 19 

of the whole transaction to the council. He took occasion to 
point out how the pirate, even while treating, had audaciously- 
seized a Colchester brig, laden with woods and sugar to the value 
of some £4000, but left the question of the validity of the pardon 
entirely to their lordships' decision. The first result of this was, 
that Eliot received a letter from Conway, the under-secretary of 
state, highly commending him for his good service, and intimat- 
ing that he should before long receive the honour of kissing the 
king's hand. "Within a few days Eliot repaired to London, not, 
however, to kiss the king's hand, but to become a prisoner in the 
Marshalsea, and answer in the Court of Admiralty charges pre- 
ferred against him by the Council Board. The pirate, Nutt, 
to give his court friends an excuse for shielding him, had the 
audacity to come forward as the accuser of his captor, alleging 
that Eliot, both by letter and message, had urged him to sail 
to Dartmouth and make prizes of divers ships that were there, 
laden with goods and money out of Spain ; and that it was 
not until thus encouraged that he had ventured on seizing the 
Colchester brig. The letter Nutt was unable to produce ; the 
charges were denied both by Eliot and his officers. The judge of 
the Admiralty, in his reports to the council, did not venture to 
express an opinion in regard to Eliot, but pointed out how the 
lord-admiral's interests might be neglected, if the vice-admiral 
were kept long absent from his post in Devon. But while Buck- 
ingham at the time was in Spain, Eliot's enemy, and Nutt'a 
friend, Sir John Calvert, the principal secretary of state, was in 
England. It was through his influence that the council had pro- 
ceeded against Eliot. The pirate had rendered him some service 
in the establishment of a colony in Newfoundland, and if his 
word may be believed, this was his sole motive for seeking to 
blacken the character of the vice-admiral, and obtain a pardon 
from the king for that "unlucky fellow, Captain Nutt." It 
was no wonder Eliot felt angry and used stronger language in 
writing to Secretary Conway than he usually employed. " I can- 
not so much yet undervalue my integrity, to doubt that the words 
of a malicious assassin, now standing for his life, shall have repu- 
tation equal to the credit of a gentleman." Nutt, however, by 
means of his powerful friend, obtained his pardon and, in addi- 
tion, a gra.ot of .£100 out of the ship and goods seized at Torbay. 
The duration of Eliot's imprisonment is uncertain ; probably he 

2—2 



20 PERSECUTION OF PURITANS. [jambs i. 

remained in the Marshalsea until the following October, at which 
time Charles and Buckingham returned from Spain. In the 
following month he was canvassing for a seat in the last of James ; 
parliaments.* 

While person and property were thus dealt with, it was 
hardly likely that there should "be any recognition of the later 
rights of freedom of speech and freedom of thought. Presby- 
terians and sectarians were forced to fly the country, in order to 
Puritans escape imprisonment. Puritan preachers were ejected 
persecuted. f rom their livings. Puritan writers were prosecuted 
in the Star Chamber. James himself made a jest of the fines 
inflicted on them ; — " it were no reason that those that will refuse 
the airy sign of the cross after baptism should have their purses 
stuffed with any more solid and substantial crosses."f But 
persecution that does not go far enough to extirpate its victims 
defeats its own ends. Sympathy was felt for the Puritans, their 
opinions spread, and the division between the two parties grew 
wider and wider. Clergymen who found favour at court adopted 
doctrines approaching to those of Eome, and supported the power 
of the crown by teaching the duty of passive obedience, and the 
doctrine of the Divine Eight of kings. Clergymen who found 
favour with the people taught that in the plain words of Scripture 
is to be found all that the Christian needs for his guidance ; 
and denounced to their hearers, as sinful and displeasing to God, 
popish ceremonies and doctrines, and the worldly court-life, with 
its drinking, swearing, acting, fine dressing, and dancing. 

Thus, at the end of James' reign, men of very various opinions 
were all alike designated Puritans. There was the sectarian, 
who desired that each separate congregation should be allowed 
its own special form of worship ; the Presbyterian, who desired 
to see a church similar to that of Scotland established in 
England ; the churchman, who objected to popish 
Puritan ceremonies and doctrines ; the patriot, who, from op- 
men g of ateS posing tyranny in the State, came to mistrust a church 
that taught the duty of passive obedience to kings' 
commands ; and, lastly, the earnest man, who, by 
merely leading, in his own person, a pure life, seemed to reprove 

* Forster : Life of Sir J. Eliot, i. 2. 

+ Ellis Orig. Letters, iii. 450: Coins were called crosses from the stamp of 
the cross on the reverse, as sovereigns from the king's head on the obverse. 



various 
opinions 



1619.] 



THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 



21 



the manners of the court ; all these became alike objects of the 
scoffs and jeers of the king's friends, and were classed together 
as factious hjqwcrites and Puritans. 

But neither James' pretensions to absolute power, nor his ac- 
tual infringement of the constitution, nor the persecution of 
Puritans, nor the vices of his court, did so much to alienate the 
affection of his subjects, as did the conduct of his foreign policy. 
The Thirty Years' War had now begun. Matthias, JaTnes > f _ 
Emperor of Germany, ruler of Austria, Hungary, and rei s n P° lic y 
Bohemia, was childless. To secure the succession, he division be- 
caused his cousin Ferdinand, archduke of Styria, to be s^and'hTs 
crowned as next king of his great kingdoms of Bohemia subjects. 
and Hungary.* This prince had been brought up by the Jesuits, 
and was so ardent a Catholic that he said he would sooner beg 
his bread from door to door, than that the Catholic Church 
should suffer injury. He had long since driven the Protestants 
out of his own duchy of Styria. Sooner than accept such a 
fanatic as their king, the Bohemians, of whom the majority were 
Protestants, rose in rebellion, and offered the crown to one of 
their own persuasion, Frederick, prince of the Palatinate,f who 



Ferdinand=Isabella 



of 



Spain. 



Maximilian I., Em- 
peror of Germany, 
Archduke of Austria. 
I 



Joanna =Philip the Eair. 



Kings of 

Milan, 

and Nether- 



Spain, 

Naples, 

lands. 



Archdukes of Austria, 
Kings of Bohemia, Hun- 
gary, and Emperors of 
Germany. 



CnARLES V., Emperor of 
Germany, 1519 — 1556. 



Philip II. , 
1555— 159S. 



Philip III., 
1598—1621. 

Philip IV., 
1621—1667. 
f Ti 



Ferdinand I. (emperor 
after resignation of 
his brother Charles V.), 
1556—1561. 



Charles, Archduke 
of Styria. 



Maximilian II., 
1564—1574. 
I 

Rodolph II., Matthias, Ferdinand II. 
1574—1612. 1612—1619. 1619—1637. ' 

Count Palatine represented, in theory, the king or emperor aa 



22 THIRTY YEARS' WAR. [james z. 

accepted the dangerous gift, and was crowned King of Bohemia 
(August, 1619). 

Thirty This was the origin of the great religious struggle 

Years'War. "between Catholics and Protestants, which is called the 
Thirty Years' War. Frederick, the Protestant champion, had for 
his enemies, Ferdinand, elected Emperor of Germany on the 
death of Matthias (1619) ; the Catholic princes of the German 
empire ; and Philip III. of Spain. 

The Austrian Emperors of Germany, and the Kings of Spain, 
Milan, and the Netherlands, being near relations, always acted in 
one another's interests. Jealousy of the united power of Spain and 
Austria inclined France to prefer political to religious considera- 
tions, so that it usually supported the Protestant princes in with- 
standing the encroachments of the emperors ; but it was useless 
at the present time for Frederick to look for help to a country 
torn by civil dissensions, and governed by a minor. 

From James, his Protestant father-in-law, whose daughter, 
Elizabeth, he had married amidst the rejoicings of the English 
(1G13), as well as from his fellow Protestant princes of the em- 
pire, he might, not without reason, hope for support, in a war 
nominally undertaken in the interests of the Protestant cause. 

James, however, hating war, had made peace, on his accession, 
with the old Catholic enemy, Spain, and declared his intention 
to the French ambassador, of " avoiding war as his own damna- 
tion." But, on the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War, the 
king found himself placed in a dilemma. For he must either 
give up his theory of non-intervention, or suffer England to fall 
from the proud position to which Elizabeth had raised her, as 
head of the Protestant States. Even now, when we recognize 
the full evil of war, it seems hardly generous in those themselves 
possessed of liberty to refuse assistance to a free people maintain- 
ing their freedom against foreign armies. To English Pro- 
testants, in whose minds the remembrance of the Armada was 
still fresh, it seemed at once both base and foolish to look on 

judge in his own palace. Barons, especially those of frontier provinces, had 
similar royal judicial privileges delegated to them. Such provinces were 
called palatine. In Germany there was an upper and lower Palatinate; the 
lower Palatinate comprised the upper part of the rich Rhine valley, with 
Heidelberg for its capital, and conferred a vote at the election of the emperors 
of Germany. 



1620.] WAVEKING FOREIGN POLICY. 

• , • j-ff „„ while a Protestant people were deprived of 
vf t^rscenTe ty aLies composed of foreigners and 
Sic T—t Europe was one country and a blow 
*uck atone Protestant State was regarded as a blow struck at 

piace, ue uc negotiating for assist his 

interests of a match that he naa oeen e * B(m -in-la W . 

SSrtMS ESS wZr d^t e^ny looked 

wfflof his subjected Infer ouroi The Bohemian 

urged, ^^^S^,^. and lawless, 
nobles, ^eauthors^hereb^^^ ^^ rf a 

SS^entg^eimperial^er^^ch^some 
took part in the ^strugg , Frederick was de f e ated and driven 

i %tirm,nra 2 cti'cable for England to maintain a large army in 
thStole and even the Attempt would have required sup- 
pL for trt than the country was disposed to grant James 
wis aware of these facts, and therefore the slower to enter upon 
ZtS It must be 'allowed that the Commons acted unrea- 



24 FOREIGN POLICY. 



[ JAMES I. 

Commons sonably. The country gentlemen, who came up to 
KLto Westminster once in five or six years, were not en- 
TintS Ilghtened h ? newspapers, and had no means of ac- 
poUcy! but q^amting themselves with the intricate course of f oreio- n 
slow to politics, or of forming any correct estimate of the V vo- 
liecessary bable cost of a war. Now, while knowledge of their 
own incapacity prevented them from pretending to 
direct operations, their Protestant zeal caused them to press 
James to assist his son-in-law, and their ignorance to suppose 
that this could be done at comparatively a small expense to the 
country. Elizabeth had always had the skill so to direct the 
blow that it should inflict the greatest injury to her adversary at 
the least possible cost to herself. She would have seen that the 
sea was England's field of fame, and would never have marched 
an army to Heidelberg. Had she still sat on the throne, perhaps 
a dash upon some Spanish port might have rendered the Pro- 
testants a material assistance, by drawing Philip's armies oft 
from Germany. But her foreign policy, when not marred by 
misplaced parsimony or favouritism, had been marked by her 
exceptional genius, and it was unreasonable to expect her com- 
monplace successor to strike out a line of action at once spirited, 
effective, and economical. It was probably fortunate for Ens- 
gland that he never heartily made the attempt. 

The Parliament was asked for money sufficient to maintain for 
the winter some regiments of English volunteers, engaged in 
defending Heidelberg, the capital of the Palatinate. But the 
Commons, before voting money, desired to see the king commit 
C et7tii 0ns nims ? lf to a decidecl policy, and prepared a petition, 
SSmesto be gg in g nim to marry his son to a Protestant princess 
many his and to make war on Spain. James, hearing before-' 
Protestant hand of the contents of the petition, wrote a letter, 
pnncess. forbidding the House to meddle with his son's match ; 
and adding, as a warning to those who should disregard the 
royal command, that, « as for liberty of speech, he was free to 
punish any man's misdemeanours in Parliament, both durino- 
and after their sitting." In meddling with matters of peace and 
war, the Commons were not so sure of their ground, but liberty 
of speech* they regarded as a precious inheritance from their 

In™ J v ; en , in , Edward the Third's time, the Commons seem to have been al- 
lowed to debate on many things concerning the king's prerogative ; and 



1621.] PARLIAMENT OVERRIDDEN. 25 

earliest ancestors. A second petition was at once prepared, beg- 
ging his Majesty, "such a wise and just king, to recognise liberty 
of speech, their ancient and undoubted right." James replied 
by saying " he would not infringe their privileges, only he did 
not like their style of speaking — how could any privileges be 
their undoubted right and inheritance, when these were all de- 
rived from the grace and permission of his ancestors and himself V 

The Commons, too wise to let such doctrine as this pass un- 
challenged, entered a protest in their journals (18 Dec, 1621)$ 
to the effect that, ' Their liberties and privileges commons 
were the undoubted birthright of the subjects of enter in 
England ; the State, the defence of the realm, the journals 
Church, the laws and grievances were proper matters f theft 101 * 
for them to debate ; members have liberty of speech, privileges, 
and freedom from all imprisonment for speaking on any matters 
touching Parliament business.' James, in the full assembly of 
his council, and in presence of the judges, caused the journal- 
book to be brought before him, and, with his own hand, erased 
this protestation, declaring it to be invalid, void, and of none 
effect. 

The dissatisfaction of the nation at the king, and his Spanish 
Catholic match, was greatly increased after the dissolution of 
this Parliament (6 Jan., 1622). Abroad, the Pro- p r otestants 
testants were being defeated, persecuted, crushed. def eated. 
Frederick was driven, not only out of Bohemia, but out of 

Henry IV. promised to take no notice of any reports made to him of their 
proceedings before such matters were brought before him by the advice and 
assent of all the Commons. A Parliament, or "speaking-house," would be 
a poor guardian of liberties without itself having liberty of utterance. The 
principle was well stated nearly half a century after this (1667) : " No man 
can doubt but whatever is once enacted is lawful ; but nothing can come in- 
to an Act of Parliament but it must be first affirmed or propounded by some- 
body; so that if the Act can wrong nobody, no more can the first propound- 
ing. The members must be as free as the Houses ; an Act of Parliament 
cannot disturb the State; therefore the debate that tends to it cannot ; for 
it must be propounded and debated before it can be enacted." — May ! 3 
Pari. Practice, 102. 

Besides freedom of speech on subjects of Parliamentary debate, the prin- 
cipal privileges of Parliament were : 

The right of both Houses of judging and punishing their own member* 
for any misdemeanour committed in Parliament. 

The right of the Commons of determining any disputed election. 

The right of members of both Houses to enjoy freedom from arrest, andi 
exemption from all legal process, while Parliament was sitting, except oa 
eharges of treason, felony, -and breach of the peace. 



26 TOM TELL-TRUTH. [james I. 

his hereditary dominions, the Palatinate, and forced, with his 
family, to take refuge in Holland, and live on the alms of the 
Prince of Orange. Protestants were banished from Austria 
Proper. In Bohemia, the Protestant faith and civil liberty dis- 
appeared together. In the Palatinate, the Protestant worship 
was suppressed. In France, the government was in arms 
against the Huguenots, and succeeded in wresting one strong- 
hold from them after another. Spain seized the hopeful oppor- 
tunity to renew the war with Holland. 

The Puritan pulpits " rang against the Spanish rnar- 
marriage riage." In vain James told the bishops to prevent the 
written c l ei & v fr° m preaching on such topics ; in vain he issued 
preached proclamations, forbidding the people to talk ; their 
voices could no more be restrained than a " mountain 
torrent." Pamphlets were written and published which risked 
the ears, if not the lives of their authors. Most malignant of all, 
Tom Tell- " Tom Tell-Truth " attacked the king and his govern- 
Truth. ment on every side. 

" I, a poor unknown subject," says the pamphleteer, " who hear the people 
talk, will undertake that discontinued but noble office of telling your Majesty 
the truth. Some there are that find fault with your government, even to 
wishing Elizabeth were alive again, for we have lost by change of sex. Great 
Britain, say they, is a great deal less than little England was wont to be. The 
excess of peace hath long since turned virtue into vice, and health into sick- 
ness. 

" The Spaniards and the Duke of Bavaria play with your Majesty as men 
do with little children, at handy-dandy, which hand will you have ? and give 
them nothing. The very losers at cards fall a cursing and swearing at the 
loss of the Palatinate ; and, when told of your Majesty's proclamation not to 
talk about State affairs, answer in a chafe, ' You must give losers leave to 
speak.' 

" You sent my Lord of Doncaster into France to mediate peace. It would 
have been better had the money spent on that embassage been given to the 
poor Huguenots ; they may well call England the ' Land of Promise.' The 
princes that serve the Pope send arms ; you — that should fight the battles 
■of the Lord — ambassadors. 

" No need for your Majesty to fear the Puritan religion ; if a king will 
be absolute and dissolute, it is a wonder he will suffer any other ; for it may 
be observed in some parts of Christendom* that let a king ruling over a Pro- 
testant people be never so wicked in his person, nor so enormous in his 
government, let him stamp vice with his example, let him remove the ancient 
bounds of sovereignty, and make every day new yokes and new scourges for 
* I.e., in England, 



1623.] BEEACH WITH SPAIN. 27 

his poor people, let liim take rewards and punishments out of the hand of 
justice, and distribute them without regard to right or wrong ; in short, let 
him so excel in mischief, ruin, and oppression, as Nero compared with him 
may be held a very father of the people. Yet, when he hath done all that 
can be imagined to procure hate and contempt, he may go boldly in and out 
to his sports, clothed in his quilted garments, stiletto-proof, he shall not 
need to take either the less drink when he goes to bed, or the more thought 
when he riseth. 

" His minions, a pack of ravenous curs, think all other subjects beasts, 
and only made for them to prey upon ; they may revel and laugh, when all 
the kingdom mourns. His poor Protestant subjects shall only think he is 
given them of God for the punishment of their sins, for the preachers shall 
praise him and make the pulpit a stage of flattery, He ought to be obeyed, 
not because he is good but because he is their king. The subject is tied to 
such wonderful patience and obedience as doth almost verify that bold speech 
of Machiavel, when he said, ' Christianity made men cowards.' "* 

James, after quarrelling with his Parliament, eagerly S ha ^ and 
renewed the Marriage Treaty with Spain. He hankered ham go to 
more than ever after the Infanta's dower, and hoped, pa,m ' 
by means of Philip's interest with the Emperor, to secure the 
restoration of the Palatinate to Frederick. The Spaniards, on 
their side, were ready for a treaty which would secure them from 
a war with England while fighting in Germany. Following the 
suggestion of the Spanish ambassador, Charles undertook a secret 
journey to Spain, intending to conclude the treaty in person, and 
return home with his bride by his side (Feb., 1623). He was ac- 
companied only by his father's favourite, George Villiers, Marquis 
(afterwards Duke) of Buckingham. 

Philip IV. took advantage of this foolish act to raise his de- 
mands, and obtained the consent of both James and Charles to 
secret articles, in which they engaged never to put the laws 
against Catholics into force, and to obtain the consent of Parlia- 
ment to their repeal within three years. The promise was worth- 
less ; for James well knew the Parliament would never consent. 

Wearied by the delays caused by the Spaniards, . 

Charles returned home (Oct., 1623) before the time Treaty with 
agreed on for the performance of the marriage cere- tenon?™" 
mony, and afterwards wrote to the Earl of Bristol, with 
whom he had left his proxy, that there was to be neither mar- 
riage nor friendship, unless Philip consented to restore the Pala- 
tinate to Frederick by force of arms. This demand broke off the 
* Somers' Tracts, II. 487—9. 



28 DEATH OF JAMES. [1625. 

treaty ; for whatever delusive hopes Philip had held out to 
James, he had never undertaken to do more than endeavour, by 
his interest with the Emperor, to effect a peace favourable to 
Frederick. " We have a maxim of State," said a Spanish minis- 
ter, for once speaking the truth, "that the King of Spain must 
never fight the Emperor." 

Money Buckingham, who had quarrelled with the Spaniards, 

voted by was now eager for war. James found his favourite 

Parliament . . ... 

to carry on would leave him no peace till he summoned a Parlia- 
Spain* 1 1 nient, which he did sorely against his will, and then 
Buckingham, with Charles by his side to confirm his 
story, gave the two Houses a false account of what had taken 
place in Spain, declaring that the Spaniards broke off the match 
because the prince would not become a Catholic. James' court 
was not a good school for training a young prince in the duties of 
veracity ; and it was certainly unfortunate for Charles' character 
that the circumstance of his first introduction to Parliament 
should have been of so ambiguous a nature. However, the story 
thus supported was believed for the time, and the question of 
peace and war with Spain being submitted to the Commons' con- 
sideration, they voted a subsidy of £300,000 to defend the coasts 
and help Holland. The same year four regiments crossed the 
Channel to assist the Dutch in fighting the Spaniards in the 
Netherlands (1624). 
-. u While the nation desired a Protestant alliance, the 

l'rencn , 

Marriage king only thought of a dowry. James now proposed to 
Treaty. marry his son to another Catholic princess, Henrietta, 
sister of Louis XIII., King of France. He died, however, before 
the marriage took place, after a reign of twenty-three years 
(25th March, 1625). Though a French marriage was hailed as a 
deliverance after the Spanish project, yet the history of the next 
twenty years will perhaps seem to justify the Commons' antipathy 
to any Catholic marriage. 



CHAPTER II. 

CHARLES' FIRST PARLIAMENTS.— IMPEACHMENT OF BUCKING- 
HAM.— PETITION OF RIGHT.— (1625-1629). 

How shall we do for money for these wars ? 

Richakd II. 

Little was known of the new king, who was only twenty-four 
years old when he came to the throne, and had seldom appeared 
in public. His manners were grave and cold ; he loved order 
and propriety. " I will have no drunkards in my bedchamber," 
he said, and turned out of office one of Buckingham's own bro- 
thers. The courtiers followed the lead of their master, and led 
outwardly decorous lives.* 

But all hopes that were entertained or good agreement Certainty 
between king and people were doomed to a speedy end. jJgJSJ* 
Charles, who from his earliest years had heard taught King and 
at his father's court the doctrine of the Divine Bight ar iamen 
of kings, regarded it as the duty of Parliament submissively 
to vote supplies and carry out the wishes of the monarch, 
without questioning his government or bargaining for redress 
of grievances. His subjects, on the other hand, still smart- 
ing at James' disregard of the laws of the land and the pri- 
vilege of Parliament, were determined to make the new king ac- 
knowledge the limits which the laws set to the prerogative of 
the Crown. 

An immediate cause of quarrel between Charles and the 
nation lay in the ascendancy of Buckingham, whose popularity 
had faded almost as soon as born. For if he had broken off the 
Spanish match on the grounds alleged by himself, be had since 
brought about the king's marriage with another Catholic, Henri- 
etta Maria, sister of Louis XIII. It is rare for a favourite to 

* Birch, I. 12 ;— Hutch. Mem. 



30 TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE. [1 pael. 

remain supreme during the life of one master ; still more rare for 
Bucking- him to gain the affection of a second. Disappointment 
his m C narac- *kat Buckingham had not been ruined on the death of 
ter. James now intensified the hatred felt by all classes to- 

wards him. Almost every officer employed by the Government 
was his creature, and at his command. " He on whom the duke 
smiled, was advanced; he on whom he frowned, cast down."* 
The highest nobles in the land found that, to stand well in the eyes 
of the king, they must court the favour of this haughty minion 
— this upstart country squire. Buckingham himself was ill-fitted 
to exercise power. Handsome, of fascinating manners, courageous 
and not implacable, he was yet vain withal, insolent, reckless, no 
genius, and utterly selfish ; a man who would embroil his country 
in war to salve a wound of vanity, and then, after pledging his 
country's word, break it again to satisfy a change of whim. 
Such was the adviser with whom Charles met his first Parlia- 
ment — a Parliament he soon summoned, as he was preparing a 
fleet for an expedition carefully kept secret from the country, and 
found himself in urgent need of money to fit this out. (18th June.) 
chul , A dreadful plague was raging in London, of which 

first Parlia- the people were dying by thousands a week, so that 
the Houses were anxious to finish their business quickly 
and end the session. A bill for two subsidies,! amounting to 
something short of ,£200,000, was brought into the Lower House, 
and the members understanding from a message sent by the king 

* Strafford, Letters and Despatches, I. 28. 

f A subsidy was an income tax of 4s. in the pound upon the annual value 
of lands, and a property-tax of 2s. 8d. in the pound upon the actual value of 
goods. Those whose lands were not worth 20s. a year, or whose personal 
property was less than £3 in value, were not taxed. These subsidies were 
levied by commissioners, appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 
amongst the inhabitants of the county or borough. The assessment was 
made with great laxity; owing to this tact and to a constant rise in the 
money-value of lands, and goods (the price of wheat for Instance, doubling 
in Elizabeth's reign, the real state of the subsidy was very much less than 
the nominal. A tenth or a fifteenth was generally voted in addition to the 
subsidy. These were originally the real tenth or fifteenth of all the movables 
or personal property of the subject. Each county or borough was responsible 
for a certain sum, which was levied by commissioners, appointed by its 
representatives in the Commons. Since the last valuation had been made 
in the reign of Edward III., in that of Charles I., when the purchasing 
power of money had den-eased five times, the tenths and fifteenths instead of 
being taxes of 2s. and of Is. 4d., were more like taxes of 5d. and 3d., in the £ 
respectively. 



m j ADJOUMmrar to oxeokb-disconteht. 

that he was satisfied with •^£££SZ£Z 
to re-assemble at "^^M^ aLmy emptied 
in large numbers to their homes i Tonnage and 

'fflSSS. since the reign ? f Henry C_ . 

Although tne usu , uf th Comm ons, yea r the 

V Wbeen to grant the customs 101 m©, _ ^ Ton _ 

• tnThP thinness of their House, and their wish for 
owing to the thinness 01 on l y granted them Poundage. 

time to regulate the scale of " omy g ^ ^ 

to Charles ^J^J^^^M the U^per House ;* 
next session of Parliament lUfi ^m not care to get 

At tlic rallin" of James' last farliamem., »u liomentad- 

At the camiig , , ff tl , e c i u ke had allied iourn ed to. 

match with Spam was broken oft, the * au i^^ 

himself with the popular leaders. N«,^» thefleet; 

entirely free of their control, espeoaUy mttm nd ^ ^ 

he determined to bring about a iup tor - ^ ^ 

s0 effect a dissolution. Accordingly, on tte^ ay ^ 

Honses adjourned, and the king s «m* was rve ftey 

for two subsidies, the members hear^to their y,^ q 

were required, within a fortnights **£*"£» = h Jul ) 
a town where the plague ,had jt yet gj^fj^ J. 

^hort as the interval was between uuc discontent. 

e^w^notwantingtobreeds^cion^dd*^ 

Dr. Montague, a clergyman, censured by the Own ^ 

Mng books upholding the Divine E gb of kin , ^ 

confession, the use of images, and otto Kom ^ 
been appointed chaplain to the k" ^ ™ h ^ F^^ 

French Marriage Treaty not to put ^ m » a = were n ow 
force; and these conditions *$£%£^ s ' t ill levied, 

beginning to be divulged, Eta™* o faaed to 



82 FIRST PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. [1625. 

clear the channel of the Turkish pirates, now ravaging the coasts, 
plundering merchant vessels, and carrying off captives by hun- 
dreds. There was an ugly story abroad, that eight ships had 
been actually lent the French king to assist him in blocking up 
the Huguenots, brother Protestants, in Eochelle. And now, as 
a crowning cause of discontent, the Parliament was re-assembled, 
at an unusual place, at the hottest time of a plague-smitten 
season (Aug 1st), and asked for sums that the king's ministers 
should have shown were necessary before. Long journeys were 
no light matter in those days, when roads were so bad that a 
coach and four could often go little more than four miles an hour. 
The members regarded the demand now made upon them almost 
as an insult, and felt convinced that Charles and Buckingham 
preferred this patent disregard of their convenience to revealing 
their whole policy at first. Thus, instead of granting a second 
supply, the House began to debate upon the abuses of the ad- 
ministration, and to point at the duke as the cause of them. 

" Strange, the adjournment for only a few days, and that meet- 
ing there in Oxford ! As it could not be that the king should 
have such mutability in himself, was not the real cause manifest 
to them ? To have the whole kingdom hurried in such haste for 
the will and pleasure of one subject ! All this was beyond example 
and comparison."* 

Parliament On this, Charley carried out Buckingham's intention, 
dissolved. an( j dissolved the Parliament at once (12th Aug.). 
There had been good cause for the caution displayed by the 
Commons in granting supplies. In the spring, Charles and Buck- 
ingham, keeping their purpose concealed even from the Privy 
Council, pressed seven merchant vessels, and sent them with a ship 
of war under Captain Pennington's command, to be employed by 
Louis XIII. in blocking up the Huguenots in Eochelle. 
lends Louis The sailors, however, showed their spirit. Learning 
against* Ro- at Dieppe their destined service, masters and men per- 
cheiie. sisted in sailing back to the Downs, swearing that they 

would be hanged or thrown overboard before they would fight ; 
while Pennington, who fully shared the feelings of the crews, 
wrote to the king, asking to be removed from command. In re- 
reply* however, he was only peremptorily ordered back to the 
French coast, and received a royal warrant authorizing him to 
* See Eorster's Life of Sir John Eliot, i. vi. 4. 



1625.] WAE WITH SPAIN— PAILUKE. 33 

compel obedience, "even unto the sinking of the ships." The 

men, being now told that the civil war in France was at an 

end, and that they were to be employed against Genoa, an ally of 

Spain, were with difficulty a second time persuaded to sail. At 

Dieppe, however, the truth could no longer be concealed. One 

vessel sailed back to the Downs, and the rest of the _ .. , 

ii-i • i Sailors do- 

crews deserted their ships, leaving them to be manned serttheves- 

by Frenchmen. A gunner — the only Englishman who &e 3 * 

took part in the service — was killed by a shot before Eochelle. 

This story was the common talk of the nation at the time of 
the dissolution of Parliament. An expedition so unpopular was 
especially unfortunate when the king was bent on going to war 
with Spain. No English king could hope to carry on war without 
obtaining large parliamentary grants, unless he was prepared to 
resort to illegal means of raising money. James had disliked 
Parliaments, and therefore, with good reason, clung to peace. 
Peace was still open to Charles, for war had not been declared ; 
but he preferred breaking the law to breaking his resolution. 
Money was raised in the form of loans. 

By these means, a fleet of ninety vessels was collected. Meet .. 
It sailed in the autumn (4th Oct.). Buckingham, against 
though lord-admiral, was too wise to command in per- pam ' 
son. Sir Edward Cecil, created Viscount Wimbledon for the 
occasion, was sent as deputy, to take the blame in case of failure. 
Success those who knew the state of the fleet hardly ventured to 
hope for. The agents the duke employed in manning, provision- 
ing, and furnishing the vessels, had shamefully embezzled the 
funds, so that victuals were bad, men sick, and ships leaky, even 
at starting. Wimbledon received secret instructions to seize 
shipping and stores in the Spanish harbours, and to capture a 
fleet of richly laden merchantmen, returning home from the West 
Indies. Charles had great hopes that his exchequer would be 
replenished with Spanish bullion. 

Wimbledon, however, after entering the harbour of Returng 
Cadiz and surprising a fort, found his troops disorderly, n °me dis- 
and finally returned to England without having fought gra ° e ' 
an enemy or made a prize (Nov., Dec). Disease broke out on the 
voyage home ; hundreds perished at sea; hundreds were landed 
in a dying condition, solely, as it was said, through the bad food 
supplied for both soldiers and sailors. Upon the success of 

3 



Si IMPEACHMENT OP BUCKINGHAM. [3 PAEU 

this expedition Buckingham's reputation was staked. It had 
been planned by him, by his advice its destination had been kept 
secret from Parliament, and he was justly regarded as the real 
author of the disgrace. 

SnnSn, Meantime the loans had fallen short ; the seamen 

a Second cam e up to London clamouring for their nav • ih* 

T', Tl r Che<1Uer — « There™ Tnres'eape 
and Charles had to snmmon a second Parliament, which met ord, 
some si* months after the dissolution of the first 6th Feb 16 "of 
The Ulega I methods of raising money, the employment of Enii 
hsh ships for crushing French Protestants, the fiasco of the fleet 
were all set down to Buckingham. ' 

KSifeed J' 16 **» l e c f ved hints of what was coming. "The 
to condyle office of high-admiral," wrote a friendly counsellor 

he county << requi onewMe maato executei J You ~^ 

hath another sea of business to wade through, and the voluntary 
resigning of this office would fill all men, yea, even your enemie 7 
w-ih affection^ Buckingham, Lord High-Admiral of £££ 

Horse W 1 G °7™ 0, r. General ° f SCaS and Da ^> **«* *e 
Horse, Warden of the Cinque Ports, refused to resign one of these 
or his other titles to popular clamour. 

. ™ W i!' e ? ai ' leS 1!"* f ° r a Subsid y> the Commons appointed 
a committee to search into grievances. The committee soon 

satisfied themselves that all evils found their head and source in 
Buckingham. On this the king tried threats. « I must let you 

anv o"f mv '1 \ l T *° ^ H ° USe ' " that l ** ™* -Ho- 

any of my servants to be questioned amongst you, much less 

« m t f ^ f place and n ™° me ° Th - Id 5-£ 

But now it hath been the labour of some to seek what may be 
done against him whom the king thinks fit to honour. I 

wish you would hasten my supply, or else it will be worse for 

ZTfelile' any m happen ' J thilik x shaI1 be *■ '<"' 

Bucking- The Commons, undaunted, impeached the duke 

SchS forh 'S h crimes and misdemeanours (22nd April). In 
cases of parliamentary impeachment, the House of 
Commons is accuser, the House of Lords judge. The eariie t case 
occurred towards the end of Edward the Third's reign ( JW 
From the time of Henry VI. there was no impeachment foAearly 



1626.] PRACTICE OF IMPEACHMENT. 35 

two centuries (1449 — 1621), till the practice was revived in the 
reign of James I., when two of the king's ministers were impeached 
for bribery and corruption — Bacon, lord chancellor, in 1621 ; the 
Earl of Middlesex, lord treasurer, in 1624. In times when the 
Parliament and the crown, the law and the prerogative, were 
struggling for mastery, and when the crown dismissed and ap- 
pointed at pleasure both judges and ministers of State, such a 
power was a most useful weapon in the hands of the Commons. 
Now, since the trials of "Warren Hastings (1791) and Lord Mel- 
ville (1805), the right of impeachment has ceased to be exercised, 
because the relation of all parties has changed. The law has 
gained the victory over the prerogative. Courts of justice are 
independent, and ministers of the crown only hold office at the 
pleasure of the Commons. 

The reverse of all this might have been affirmed at the True charge 
time when Buckingham was impeached. Jhe special B g uckSg- 
allegations against him were his holding many offices at bam. 
the same time, selling places of judicature, leu ding ships to Louis 
to be used against Rochelle, with various other offences, in all 
thirteen. But the Commons did not, in fact, impeach Bucking- 
ham for any particular crime. Their quarrel with him was that he 
alone possessed the royal ear, and that he counselled Charles to 
commit illegal acts at home, and pursue a wavering course of 
foreign policy, detrimental to the interests of the Protestants. 
The English nation has always been intolerant of tyranny at 
second hand. It seemed to them now monstrous that the wishes 
of people and Parliament should be over-ruled by the fancies of 
one unworthy favourite. They determined, therefore, to im- 
peach the duke, as the only constitutional means then possessed 
of securing the change of ministry they desired. 

" What vast treasures he has gotten," said Sir John Eliot, con- g peec h of 
ducting the impeachment before the Lords, " what infinite sums Sir John 
of money, and what a mass of lands ! If your lordships please Ji ' 110t '- 
to calculate, you will find it all amounting to little less than the whole of the 
subsidies which the king has had within that time. A lamentable example 
of the subjects' bounties so to be employed ! His profuse expenses, his 
superfluous feasts, his magnificent buildings, his riots, his excesses, what are 
they but the visible evidences of an express exhausting of the State, a 
chronicle of the immensity of his waste of the revenues of the crown ? He 
wonder, then, our king is now in want, this man abounding so. And as long 
as he abounds, the king must still be wanting, . , . 

3-2 



36 IMPEACHMENT OF BUCKINGHAM. [2pael, 

" Of all the precedents I can find, none so near resembles him as doth Se- 
ianus and him Tacitus describes thus : that he was audax, sui obtegens, in 
alios criminator : juxta adulatio et superbia.* If your lordships please tc 
measure him by this, pray see in what they vary. He is bold, and of such a 
boldness, I dare be bold to say, as is seldom heard of. He is secret in his 
purposes, and more, that we have showed already. Is he a slanderer ? Is 
he an accuser ? I wish this Parliament had not felt it, nor that which was 
before. As for his pride and flattery, what man can judge the greater ? . . 
And now, my lords, I will conclude with a particular censure given on the 
Bishop of Ely in the time of Bichard I. That prelate had the king's trea- 
sures at his command, and had luxuriously abused them. His obscure kin- 
dred were married to earls, barons, and others of great rank and place. No 
man's business could be done without his help. He would not suffer the 
kind's council to advise in the highest affairs of state. He gave ignotis per- 
sonis et obscuris the custody of castles and great trusts. He ascended to 
such a height of insolence and pride, that he ceased to be fit for characters of 
mercy. And therefore, says the record, of which I now hold the original, 
per totam insulam publice proclametur ; — Pereat qui perdere cuncta 

EESTINAT; OpPRIMATUR NE 01INES OPPRIMAT"f (10th May). 

Charles "When Charles heard that Eliot had compared the 

visits the duke to Sejanus, he exclaimed, " He must intend me 
Lords, for Tiberius !" and with the defendant by his side, 

went to the Upper House, and tried to overawe the duke's judges 
by informing the Lords that he had given orders for punishment 
of some insolent speeches spoken to them yesterday, and that he 
could himself be a witness to clear the duke of every charge 
andim- brought against him (11th May). He was as good as 
prisons two h_i s word, and the same day committed to the Tower 
the Com- two of the managers of the impeachment, Sir Dudley 
mons. Digges and Sir John Eliot. The Lords, of whom many 

were concealed enemies of the favourite, let the king speak and 
depart in silence. The Commons agreed to do no business until 
their members were restored to the House. 

Charles Charles might have ended the struggle by a dissolu- 

soives y the S " ^ on ' but as ne s ^ hoped to obtain a supply, he pre- 
Pariiament. f erred to release the two members. Einding, however, 
that the Commons would not grant money, unless the duke waa 
first removed from office, he determined to put a stop to the im- 
peachment, by dissolving the Parliament. " No, not a minute!" he 
said to the Lords, who came in person to petition him to stay the 

* Tac. Ann. iv. 1. f Forster's Life of Sir J. Eliot, i. vii. 6. 



1626.] THIRTY YEAES' WAE. 37 

dissolution, and the next day lie carried out his purpose (15th 
June). 

The people had been anxiously watching the course _ 

Feirs enter* 

of events within the House. " This is the king's last tained in 
Parliament," they said, aware of Charles' indignation the countr y- 
at the impeachment of his minister. "And now that the Parlia- 
ment is dissolved, and the duke still in power, what will follow 
next ?" " Is it not time to pray 1 Unless God show us the way 
out, we are but in an ill case."* 

Charles did not keep his subjects long in doubt of his inten- 
tions. In fact, a series of measures followed, attacking more 
classes and more interests within a shorter period than had been 
ever known in English history. 

Although Charles was already engaged in war with Spain, and 
had not received a penny from his last Parliament, he had still 
the temerity to enter into war with France. Several causes of 
quarrel existed between himself and his brother-in-law, Louis 
XIII. Shortly before the death of James, Cardinal Richelieu, 
Louis' chief minister, had effected a league between 
France and the Protestant powers (1624). The French Protestant 
were to fight the armies of Austria and Spain, while ^Inst 
the King of Denmark, Christian IV., assisted by men Spain and 
from England, and money from France, was to lead the 
Protestant forces of Germany for the recovery of the Palatinate. 
The fleets of England and Holland were to attack Spain, while 
the Turks were engaged to fall upon Hungary. But as soon as 
Louis had reduced the Huguenots in Rochelle by the aid of the 
ships borrowed from Charles, he deserted his allies, and made 
peace with Spain (March, 1626). The reason of this sudden 
change in French policy was that the Huguenots, regardless of the 
interests of their co-religionists, seized the moment when France 
was about to engage in foreign war, to rise in arms against the 
government. The English contingent had already been fitted 
out with the money granted in James' last Parliament. But 
Louis now refused permission for these troops to pass through 
France on their way to join the German army, so that they were 
obliged to take a long sea passage to Zealand. Disease broken 

* Ellis. 3rd Series, 227, 228. 



38 WAR WITH FRANCE. [162& 

out, and 5000 men out of the 14,000 men perished before they 
saw the face of a foe.* 

Christian IV., thus left unsupported, was defeated at Lutter 
(27th August, 1626), and the armies of the emperor, Ferdinand 
II., were soon overrunning the north of Germany (1627-8). 
Charles, who had agreed in his marriage treaty not to put the 
laws against Catholics into force, and had afterwards lent Louis 
ships, expecting, in return, to receive aid for the recovery of the 
Palatinate, naturally felt aggrieved at the conduct of the French 
government. Moreover, Buckingham had some personal dis- 
agreement with Richelieu, which was believed to be his only 
motive for breaking the peace between the two nations. 
War with The war was unpopular in England, because the 

France. French, through their well-known jealousy of Spain 
and Austria, were regarded as the natural allies of the German 
Protestants. But Charles and Buckingham were ill advised 
enough to hope that, by merely declaring themselves friends of the 
Huguenots, they would be carried along on a flood-tide of popu- 
larity, and thus be able to raise money enough by illegal means for 
the support of two wars at once. A general loan was 
raised by il- demanded ; every man, rich or poor, was required to 
legal means, g- ve ^ ^ e same proportion as he had been rated in 
the last subsidy granted by Parliament. This so-called loan was 
in fact nothing less than a tax laid on land and property, without 
consent of Parliament. Henry VIII., the most absolute of the 
Tudor sovereigns, once endeavoured to raise money by means of 
a general loan ; but even in his time the attempt produced wide- 
spread discontent ; a serious insurrection broke out in Suffolk, 
and the imposition was withdrawn (1525). Since that time a 
steady increase in wealth and knowledge had for more than a 
century been strengthening the middle classes, and confirm- 
ing their attachment to their liberties. Leaders were now 
to be found in the House of Commons, ready boldly to point 
the attention of the nation to acts of arbitrary power, and 
to brave the consequences of the royal displeasure. It was- 

* Vessels were not then required, as they happily are now, to have on 
board a sufficient supply of lime juice, or other preventives against conse- 
quences of a salt diet. Hence the fatal ravages of scurvy in those times. The 
symptoms of this disease are described as — discoloured spots, swelled legs, 
extraordinary lassitude and dejection, sudden death resulting on the least 
motion or exertion of strength. See Gr. Anson's Voyage, I. x. 



1626 1 FORCED LOANS. 39 

hardly likely, therefore, that an aet from which Henry VIIL 
Z Cardinal Wolsey had shrunk, should fail to rouse nidigna- 
tion when attempted by Charles and his detested favourite. 

Opposition arose on all sides from rich and poor, oppose* 
The prisons were full of gentlemen who refused to o s eT0 iby 
lend. Lincolnshire "almost rebelled;" Shropshire ' **~ 
"utterly denied." Several gentlemen, on being brought before 
the Council Chamber, refused to kneel, for fear of seeming to 
acknowledge that they were in any way responsible for a legiti- 
mate refusal of an illegitimate demand. In London, only two or 
three in a parish would pay, and that though goods wer< » seized, 
aad the duke threatened, saying " Sirrah, take ? heeel w . t^ou 
do ; did not you speak treason at such a time J Charles him 
self was reported to be so inflamed against refusers, that he was 
" vowing a perpetual remembrance, as well as a present pumsh- 

01 F*ve gentlemen, imprisoned for refusing the loan, applied to 
the Court of King's Bench for a writ of habeas cotyus.f the 
judge sent a writ to the gaoler, commanding him to produc* Ins 
prisoners before the court, with the warrant on which they had 
been imprisoned. The gaoler replied that they were committed 
by a warrant from the king's council, by the special command of 
his Majesty, but that no special cause of impiisoment judgmert 
was mentioned. Accordingly, the question was pleaded King 
before the judges of the King's Bench, whether or not B-g-J. 
the king had power to commit his subjects to prison „ 
without alleging any crime against them. The court 
was crowded, and shouts of applause were raised at the argu 
ments of the prisoners' counsel. The judges however, W d S 
ment in favour of the king, and the five gentlemen were remanded 

t0 Cplr, who refused the loans, were pressed into the service 
of the arm; and navy. On some districts » «^P"? £ 
was laid called "coat and conduct money," for fitting out the 
rdiet The rich had soldiers quartered on them who acted as 
thou'h the king's soldiers were as much above the law as then 
master. Not content with killing and carrying off oxen and 
sheen from the owners' grounds, they muraered and Dis d ,. 
robbed upon the highways, "nay, in fairs and mar- -ducttf 
kets, for to meet a poor man coming from the market 

• Straff. Letters, I. 38; Bireh. 190, 154, 167, 164. t S5. p. 16- 



40 DEFEAT AT EOCHELLE. [I* 32 ?. 

with a pair of shoes, and take them from him, was but a sport 
and merriment." The highways became so insecure, that, to sup- 
Commis- press disorders, Charles issued commissions to execute 
sions issued martial law. The ordinary course of justice was then 
cutfonof set aside, and the commissioners tried and sentenced 
martial law. faq, soldiers under forms more summary than those of 
the common law. In spite, however, of the crimes committed, 
the remedy seemed to the nation worse than the disease. Stand- 
ing armies and courts-martial being alike unknown to English 
statute or common law, Charles had no more legal power to issue 
commissions to try soldiers by martial law than he had to try 
civilians.* To increase the general indignation, the clergy re- 
Clergy ceived orders to preach up the duty of passive obedi- 

S 'SSive* 7 ence and the divine ri S' ht of km £ s - Those who looked 
obedience, out for promotion complied, but the preachers were 
regarded as mere lacqueys of the court. It was adding insult to 
injury, first to take the people's properties illegally, and then to 
tell them that submission was a duty, pleasing to God. 

At last, at the expense of so much bitterness between king 
and commons, a fleet of 100 vessels was fitted out, and sailed for 
France (27th June). Buckingham took the command himself ; a 
Expedition landing was effected on the Isle of Eh6, and the 
hanito kmg " Huguenots in Eochelle were persuaded to trust to the 
Kocheile. honour of the English, and try the event of war 
against Louis XIII. once more. But, after two months had been 
spent in an unsuccessful siege of the fortified town of St. Martin,t 
Buckingham made a disastrous retreat along a narrow cause- 
way, beset on either side with salt pits and ditches. So 
many officers and soldiers were slain, so many taken pri- 
soners, that not above half the number of those who sailed re- 
turned to their homes. Beside the cries of private mourning 

* Kings of England had indeed always exercised the right of issuing ordi- 
nances of war for the regulation of their armies. But this military law had 
been confined to military offences committed on actual service, while these 
' soldiers, mariners, and other dissolute persons,' were (1) not on actual ser- 
vice, and (2) had committed offences which were cognizable at the courts of 
common law ; hence fears were naturally entertained that so tempting a 
method of procedure would be extended to civilians. Since England has had 
a standing army, a Mutiny Act is annually passed, allowing courts-martial 
for punishment of military offences, and reserving the crown power to frame 
farther articles in case of actual war. 

t For map, see p. 46. 



1838-] THIRD TAELIAMKNT. « 

we heard these of public indignation. Buckingham ^he- 
lved to have gone to Eoehelle in a pet, merely to gratify his 
Xen a^n I* Lonis, without earing cither for the Huguenots or 
t 1 troops ; and the people, in whose minds "embrace 
Elizabeth's triumphs was still fresh, went back to King Johns 
wl find a parallel disgrace, describing it, as *^— , f * 
overthrow the English have received since we lost Normanciy. 

AdTour was raised for a Parliament. The coasts were in- 
fested pirates entered the harbours, and sailed up the rivers ; 
he very fishermen were afraid to put out ; trade was decaying 
or merchants refused to build vessels only to be P-^d into he 
Ws service ; the sailors came round about the palace at White- 
M ciX out for pay. Charles had pledged himself to relieve 
» the siege of which, by Louis, was ^ on!y outcome o«s 
intervention ; but how he was to carry on two wars, in the face 
of al these difficulties, was a question to puzzle the wisest head. 
The ords of the council were afraid to try toed loans again, 
and Charles, though, as he truly said, he did " abomi- Cta*^ 
nate the name," consented to follow their advice, and ^ 
send out the summons for another Parliament. .,■ 

The House was filled with patriots, elected against conrt cand - 
dates by overwhelming majorities. Eliot Pym, Coke, »». of 
Selden Wentworth, were all there ; and Oliver Crom- w, „ 
weH a young man of twenty-nine, took his seat for I-* 
Te first y time°as member for the town of Huntingdon Charles 
opened this, his third Parliament, with threats (17th Mm-di). 
yo< he said, "should not do your duties m contributing ^what 
the State at this time needs, I must, in discharge of my con 
science, use those other means which God hath put into my 
hands" The threat only made the Commons more determined 
to put an end to the loans, billeting of soldiers, and imprison- 
ments, " those other means " which had caused such just and bit- 
ter resentment. «„*•„» n 
Debates on granting the king a supply, and. on finding a 
remedy for grievances, advanced hand in hand. The decision of 
the judges, that the king might not commit a subject to prison, 
except at his pleasure*™ thought a wanton outrage on tfie 
intelligence of the nation. According to this theory, the law* 
were only binding on the king so long as he graciously chose not 
* Forster's Life of Sir J. Eliot, ii. ix. 2. 



42 PETITION OF EIGHT. [3 parl. 

to act in right of his royal prerogative, so that Acts of Parliament, 
regarded for centuries as the bulwarks of public liberty, were 
rendered absolutely meaningless. 

Judgment " To have m ^ bod 7 P ent U P in a g ao V exclaimed 
B iPh g a an incli g nant P atl "iot, " without remedy of law, and to 
vassed in be so adjudged . . If this be law, why do we talk 
Commons. of liberties <i Whj do we trouble ourselves with a 
dispute about law, franchises, property of goods, and the like ? 
What may a man call his own, if not the liberty of his person ?' 
I am weary of treading these ways." 

A security was needed that the old laws should be kept in 
force, and the king's prerogative be prevented from trampling 
them under foot. " We must vindicate — what V said Wentworth,. 
" new things 1 No ! our ancient, lawful, and vital liberties ! 
We must reinforce the laws made by our ancestors. We must 
set such a stamp upon them as no licentious spirit shall dare- 
hereafter to invade them." 

The Commons, however, still believed the king would feel 
bound in conscience to respect a law which he passed himself ; 
Petition of and, under this impression, drew up a bill, in the form 
Bight. f a Petition of Eight, to serve as a new guarantee for 

the preservation of liberty. They called their bill the Petition 
of Right, because it was but a confirmation of old laws, of rights 
already possessed. The Petition demanded : 

1st. That no freeman be required to give any gift, loan, bene- 
volence, or tax without common consent by Act of Parliament. 

2nd. That no freeman be imprisoned or detained contrary to 
the laws of the land. 

3rd. That soldiers and mariners be not billeted in private houses. 

4th. That commissions to punish soldiers and sailors by martial 
law be revoked, and no more issued. 

The Upper House, which the king had partially packed by the 
creation of several new lords, proposed to add to the petition the 
following saving clause : — " We humbly present this petition to 
your Majesty, with due regard to leave entire that sovereign 
power wherewith your Majesty is entrusted for the protection of 
Savin ^ our P e0 P^ e -" The Commons, however, refused to ac- 

ciause pro- cept the amendment, which conceded the very point 
Ki^e- at issue - " A11 our petition," said Pym, " is for Re- 
jected by laws of England : this power seems to be another 

Commons. . l .^ 

power distinct from the power of the law. We can- 



1628 .] ATTEMPTED EVASION. 4S 

not leave him a sovereign power, for he was never possessed of 
it." After several conferences between the two Houses, the 
Lords yielded and passed the petition in the form desired by the 
Commons (27th May). Charles, being in want of money, did 
not venture in any direct manner to refuse his consent, but when 
the petition was read before assembled King, Lords, and Com- 
mons, the lord keeper read out, instead of the usual <^ r J^ 
words by which the royal assent is signified, a new t o Petition 
form, "that the king wished that right should be of Right, 
done' and that he held himself in conscience as much obliged to. 
maintain their just rights and liberties as his own prerogative " 
(2nd June). The Commons were engaged in preparing a remon- 
strance against the evil advisers by whose counsel this worthless 
answer had been given, when a message came from the king, for- 
bidding the House to meddle with affairs of State (5th June). 
There followed a prolonged silence. Not to meddle with affaire 
of State, meant that they must endure the ascendancy Charleg for _ 
of the duke, and see the name of England despised bids House 

' , . , . , , i 1 1 of Commons 

abroad from a policy which was at once meddlesome, to mec idie 
feeble, and fickle ; while at home outrages were done ^^ a 
to the dearest liberties of their country, which it was 
their bounden duty to defend. Some members sat down in tears, 
dumb through grief ; others mingled their speech with tears ; 
some hundred wept in all, they felt so much was at stake. " Let 
us palliate no longer," cried the old lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, 
" if we do, God will not prosper us. I think the Duke of Buck- 
ingham is the cause of all our miseries— that man is the grievance 
of grievances ; it is not the king but the duke"— (a .great cry of 
"'Tishe, 'tis he !" " Yea, yea I" "Well moved, well spoken")— 
"that saith, 'We require you not to meddle with State govern- 
ment or the ministers thereof ; " (5th June). 

Two days later, Charles yielded, the Petition of King's 

J ' , . - i ,-, i • second an- 

Eight was read a second time, and the reply given in swertoPeti- 
the usual form: " Soit droit fait comme il est desire " tionofRight. 
(7th June). 

The Commons, on their side, passed a bill for five subsidies, 
after which Parliament was prorogued (26th June). 

While Parliament was sitting, another fleet which was sent to- 
Eochelle, returned without raising the siege. " What wonder !" 
said the people ; " was not the commander Buckingham's brother- 



44 MUEDEE OF BUCKINGHAM. [3 pabl. 

in-law?" No allowance had. been made for the shallowness of 
that sandy coast : Lord Denbigh, finding his ships drew too much 
water to approach the city, seemed only too glad of an excuse for 
sailing away at once. It was believed that the expedition had 
been got up, not to save RocheUe, but merely to blind the eyes of 
Parliament. One of the duke's household, called Dr. Lamb, was 
set upon by the rabble in the streets of London, and so brutally 
knocked about that he died the same night. The city magistrates 
could not, or would not, find the offenders. The people sang, 

"Let Charles and George do what they can, 
The duke shall die like Dr. Lainb." 

Felton mur- Felton, described as a gentleman of low stature, few 
^ ei ha BuCk " woro ^ s > an d melancholy spirit, after pondering over a 
remonstrance of the Commons, declaring Buckingham 
the cause of all the evils under which the kingdom suffered, con- 
ceived it his duty to rid his country of an enemy. The duke was 
at Portsmouth, preparing to set sail immediately in command of 
another fleet for the relief of Rochelle. He was in company with 
several officers, French and English, when, in passing through a 
dark lobby leading from a breakfast-room into a hall, he was 
stabbed to the heart. " The villain hath killed me !" he cried, 
pulled out the knife, staggered to a table, and fell dead in the 
•arms of the bystanders (23rd Aug.). No one had seen the blow 
struck, and suspicion was falling on the Frenchmen, when Felton 
stepped forward out of the crowd and said, " I am the man who 
did the deed, let no one suffer who is innocent." The people could 
not restrain their joy ; healths were drunk to the murderer, 
verses written in his honour. Crowds gathered to see him on his 
way to London and the Tower, greeting him as the slayer of the 
Philistine. " Now, God bless thee, little David/' " The Lord be 
merciful unto thee," " The Lord comfort thee," were the cries that 
reached his ears. 

On being brought before the council and threatened 
dare use of by Bishop Laud with the rack, unless he revealed the 
against the names oi his associates, he replied that he alone was 

common author of the deed, and that as for the rack, he could 
law. 

not say whether torture might make him accuse his 

lordship, or which of their lordships. The threat was not put 

into execution. The judges unanimously declared the use of tor- 



1628.] POLITICAL ASSASSINATION. 4S 

ture was contrary to the common law of England, and the king 
did not think it prudent to override their decision. Felton was 
hanged at Tyburn. To the last he felt little remorse for the 
murder. Though he confessed he had done wrong in shedding 
blood, he could not be brought to doubt but that good would re- 
sult to Church and State from his act. 

The duke was only thirty-five. Charles called him "his 
martyr," and never forgave those who opposed him during life, or 
spoke ill of him after death. His fate shows the truth of the 
common maxim that those who are above the law are above the 
protection of law ; but the crime was the crime of a fanatic. 
Not a shadow of suspicion rests on the popular Popular 
leaders. They were at once too far-sighted and too impiTcated 
honourable. Acts of treachery and violence, whatever in the crime, 
the immediate advantage gained, are sure in the long run to recoil 
to the injury of the side that practises them. Sooner or later, 
violence is condemned by public opinion, for in a constitutional 
struggle, the mass of the nation have really more the feelings 
of a jury than of parties to a case. It is only by winning a 
favourable judgment from the large and wavering masses, that 
any party, which has no armed force behind it, can obtain a sure 
and final triumph. Violent partisans are always to be found 
ready to approve and employ all means without distinction to 
advance their euds ; but the English leaders knew that the 
statue of Wingless Victory can only stand in the shrine of law 
and right. 

The fleet, which now sailed under Lord Lindsay, was as unsuc- 
cessful as though Buckingham himself had lived to command it. 
While Charles delayed, Richelieu's genius and energy were at 
work. The city was gradually shut in on the land side by a line 
of circumvallation extending nine miles, while a vast mole of 
nearly a mile in length was raised across the roadstead. After 
two unsuccessful attempts to force their way through the mole, 
the English returned without having placed a morsel of food 
within reach of the starving inhabitants. The town had a strong 
position between the sea and the marshes on the rocky promon- 
tory from which it got its name of the " little rock." Originally 
a colony of serfs, who had fled from the oppressions of their 
feudal lords, it had a tradition of political as well as of religious 
freedom. Once a fief of the English kings, and now much dearer 



66 



FALL OF ROCHELLE. 



[3 FA.BL. 



as a stronghold of Protestantism, the English were deeply- 
interested in its heroic resistance, and regarded themselves and 
their country as irretrievably disgraced, when, after 16,000 were 
said to have died of famine, the city at last surrendered at dis- 



Fall of 
Rochelle, 



The fall was a fatal blow to the cause of the Hugue- 
nots. Liberty of conscience was still left them, but 
their fortresses were destroyed, their assemblies, their privileges, 
their organization by churches abolished. Instead of being a 
power within the state, they became a sect.* 




The English, after this defeat of their religion, could not con- 
sole themselves for long with the victory they had obtained over 
the government in the Petition of Eight. At first the people in 
London rung bells and made bonfires, believing their liberties to 
be now secured ; but their mistake was soon proved. Notwith- 
*. Lavallee. Hist, de France. 



1628.1 WENTWOETH THE MINISTER, 47 

standing the king's distinct promise to respect the rights enume- 
rated in the Petition, the customs were still levied. A merchant, 
a member of the Commons, who refused to pay ,£200 duty, had 
his goods seized to the value of £5000. " If all the Petition of 
Parliament were in you, we would take your goods," t en by 
said the custom-house officers. Men who ventured on nainisters. 
speaking or writing against the introduction of Catholic cere- 
monies and doctrines into a Protestant church, were brought 
before the Star Chamber on charges of libel, fined, cast into prison, 
and, in some cases, mutilated. Bishop Laud, a cruel persecutor of 
Puritans, was translated to the see of London (July). Clergy- 
men, tried and censured by the last Parliament for publishing 
books and sermons maintaining the right of the king to take his 
subjects' goods without their own consent, were now rewarded 
with bishoprics or rich livings. Charles did not seem to realize 
the alteration he had made in his position by giving his consent 
to the Petition of Right. Previously, no special tie bound him 
to act by law. No special charge of deceit, therefore, could be 
brought against him if, like his father, he tried to exalt his posi- 
tion into that of a French king, free arbitrarily to tax and im- 
prison his subjects. But now a victory had been fairly won by 
patriots armed only with the legal weapons of the constitution, 
and by confirming the old charters by a new statute, he had 
pledged his word to their observance ; by infringement now, he 
would lose the confidence as well as the affection of his subjects. 

Meantime the place of Buckingham was filled. 
The name of Sir Thomas Went worth had hitherto Went worth 
been counted among the chief leaders of the opposition. ^J*" 
But his subsequent conduct seemed to show that his P ldce ™ 
actions had been dictated by pride rather than by 
patriotism. Haughty and ambitious, scorning to hold a second 
place, he had chosen to rise to influence as an enemy of the court, 
rather than lower himself and sue for favour to Buckingham. 
Promotion, however, is sure to be offered to a dangerous oppo- 
nent, who will sacrifice principles to place. A month before 
Buckingham's death, Wentworth was raised to a barony. 
Thus when Felton made the first place vacant, Charles had 
already enlisted in his service a man, whose great abilities and 
commanding nature rendered him far more competent to be his 
adviser in the exercise of arbitrary government than the vain 



48 WENTWOETH THE MINISTER. [3 paei, 

and frivolous favourite lie had lost. "VVentworth made uo con- 
ditions as to the policy to be pursued; thus he left his party, not 
to forward their views in office, but simply to gratify his in- 
ordinate ambition. He appointed a meeting with his old friend 
and companion, Pym, at Greenwich, and there discoursed to him 
" of the dangers they were like to run by the courses they were 
in, and what advantages they might have, if they would listen to 
some offers which would probably be made to them from court." 
" You need not use all this art," replied Pym, " to tell me that 
you have a mind to leave us. But remember what I tell you. 
You are going to be undone. And remember also, that though 
you leave us now, I will never leave you, while your head is upon 
your shoulders." 

Second ses- Thus "VVentworth, now Viscount "VVentworth, and a 
sion of member of the Privy Council, at the next session of 

Charles 

Third Par- Parliament sat amongst the king's ministers in the 
liament. XJpper House, ready to throw all the weight of his 
abilities and eloquence upon the side of arbitrary power (20th 
Jan.). 

The Commons immediately began to debate upon their griev- 
ances. ' The goods of merchants had been seized for refusing 
to pay illegal customs. Further, though no man ought to lose 
life or limb but by the law, the Star Chamber sentenced men to 
lose their ears.' " Next it will be our arms, and then our legs, and 
so our lives." Charles, not content with thus breaking his royal 
promise, had descended to subterfuge. Though by the king's 
own orders the Petition of Eight, with the proper answer, had 
been entered in the journals of the House, yet copies had subse- 
quently been dispersed over the country, with the first evasive- 
answer annexed, as well as the second. It was found that the 
printer had received royal orders to suppress the true copies, and 
make a new impression. ' Noblesse oblige/ but such doubtful 
dealing could only bring obloquy on the sovereign. The strength 
of loyalty lies in sentiment, and this was a fatal omen of the 
future for king and commons. 

Meantime Charles sent message after message bidding 

Commons . , . , - , . 

inquire into the House pass a bill, granting him the customs, ror this 
of ministers was * n ^ ac ^ *he only purpose for which he had called 

and officers the Parliament. " Let the merchants have their goods 
of. executive 

restored," said the Commons, " before the bill is 



1629.] ELIOT'S DECLARATION. 49 

passed." " Kings," said one, " ought not, by the law of God, thus 
to oppress their subjects. I know we have a good king, and this 
is the advice of his wicked ministers, but there is nothing can be 
more dishonourable unto him." They proceeded to question those 
ministers ; they demanded of the king's attorney-general by 
whose warrant he had discharged Catholic priests; they de- 
manded of the farmers of the customs on what warrants they had 
seized the goods of merchants who refused to pay illegal duties ; 
they demanded of the judges on what grounds they had refused 
to let the merchants have their cause tried at law. No acts could 
have given more dire offence to Charles. Other Houses of Com- 
mons had attacked some single minister of state, but none had 
ever ventured on questioning the conduct of the king's servants 
at large. An immediate dissolution being fully expected, the 
popular leaders determined not to separate, without first passing 
a vote against the illegal levying of the customs. On the. 2nd of 
March Eliot rose to address the House. The Speaker, The g pea]ier 
Pinch, a thorough courtier, rose also, and saying that refuses to 
he had the king's orders for an immediate adjourn- declaration 
ment, left his chair. Two members, Denzil Hollis and to the vote - 
Valentine, standing on either side, forced him back to his seat, 
and held him down, whilst Eliot made a short speech, in which 
he declared it to be the duty of the House to maintain religion 
and the rights of the subject, and brought forward a declaration 
to that effect, which he desired the Speaker to put to the vote. 
But Finch, with tears, refused to receive it or put it to the vote, 
declaring that he had the king's command to the contrary. 
Again he tried to rise from his chair, and again was forced 
down by Hollis and Valentine. " God's wounds," said Hollis, 
" he should sit there until it pleased them to rise." " You are 
the disgrace of your country, and the blot of a noble family," 

cried one of his own kinsmen. The king's councillors, m 

,-n -i r -i i Tumult in, 

coming forward to rescue the Speaker, were forcibly theHouse. 

driven back to their seats. Blows were given, and messenger 
sword hilts handled. " Let all," said Strode, " who refused ad- 
desire the declaration read and put to the vote, stand 
up." Whereupon the majority of the House started to their feet, 
and Eliot flung down the paper before them. At this moment 
a messenger from the king came to the door, with orders to the 
sergeant to withdraw with the mace, which, by custom, always 

4 



ANGBY DISSOLUTION. [3 PiM ,., 1629 . 

lies on the Commons' table, while the Honse is proceeding with 
business. No sooner, however, had the sergeant laid his hand 
upon the mace than a cry was raised to lock the door, and Sir 
Miles Hobert urned the lock, and pnt the key in his pocket. 
Ehotthen read a protest against any who shonld levy or pay 
customs. "And for myself," he said, "I protest further^ as Iarf 
a gentleman rf my fortune be ever again to meet in thia'honour- 
able assembly, where I now leave, I will begin again." While he 
was speaking, the gentleman usher of the black rod, sent by 

for Id J?/ r0n0 T e , a dissolution > ™^ knocked at the door 
for adm ttance. And now Hollis, standing by the Speaker's 
chau^ with a paper containing three resolutions in his hand called 
oiit that he put the question, - that they were traitors who 'sho„ H 
introduce Popery; that they were traitors who should levy he 
customs, ungranted by Parliament ; that they were traitawho 

?d°e U s ThT" 7 ^ Tf: " AJ ' "*" ™ touted 1 al 
sides. The door was unlocked, and the member rushed out 

Z23LEZ£&£r'- *" *—»"*«-£ 

The next day Charles signed a proclamation for a dissolution. 

xhe Commons "had," he said, « tried to erect an universal over 
whelming power to themselves, which belongs only to us, Ind 
not to them." They had in fact tried to gain control ov"r 
the executive power. So far the charge was true. The nation 
was weary of entering upon wars without its own a P p oval or 

on ent ; of givmg money for one object, and seeing TIpTt on 
another ; o seeing good laws not only violated by ministers of 

Xr n Th Ut ?1 A r d m ; gat ° ry by the < ' Uibbks <* t-e^v;^ 
judges. The Petition of Eight was already a dead letter 
Judges, ministers, custom-house officers, all acted as though the 
king , consent to such a law had never been given The Com 

"aveTV^ *T bUt aVain ««" ■*« gainst tyranny! 
have a king's word to the contrary.' They were on the X£ 
took when they sought to make the office^ the ^eutfve 
ES™;^ " f cording to the pri nci pl es of the c »- 
stitution they had always been. Charles, on his side, published a 
proclamation against Parliament, threatening "certain viperTof 

>resi , : t rr ta '' withcondign i«»»A«2 i*«zi 



CHAPTEE III. 

ELEVEN YEARS OF ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT. — 1629—1640. 

KPEQN. dWfij yap »/ fioi XP*1 yc rr}o8' dp%eiv yQovog; 

AIMQN. froXig yap ovk 'iaQ' ijrig avdpog koQ' kvog. 

KPEi2N. ov tov KparovvTog r) TroXig vofxi^BTai ; 

AIMQN. KaXojg tprjfitig y dv ov yfjg dp\oig f^ovog. 

Ceeon. lor my behoof I have right to rule this land. 

Haemon. It is no state where all belongs to one. 

Ceeon. Is not the state the sovereign's property ? 

Haemon. Amauless state how grand to rule — alone ! — Soph. Ant. 739, 

CHARLES had now made up his mind to govern without the aid 
of Parliament, and thus raise himself into the position of an 
absolute monarch. His education and his character had alike 
tended to blind his mind to the fact that, from the subjects' point 
of view, such an intention was criminal. Princes rarely converse 
with their fellows on an equal footing, or hear their own Charles' 
opinions and actions freely criticized. They are, there- and^charac- 
fore, apt to grow up prejudiced. Charles was especially ter. 
unfortunate in this respect. In James' court, no man could main- 
tain a footing who was not obsequious enough to let his own 
opinion follow that of his Majesty. The divine right by which 
kings rule, the superiority of the prerogative to the law, the sub- 
ject's duty of passive obedience, were household words to the 
young prince. His social training was as bad as his political ; the 
companions amongst whom he was thrown, were not only obse- 
quious but immoral, and when he became king, his father's 
influence lived on in one of the most worthless of his fa- 
vourites. Edward I., indeed, a king whose only thought was for 
his people's " security under fixed laws and customs " yet failed 
in inspiring his son with any such noble aims, though he banished 
the evil companions who were bent on marring that son's mind. 
But Charles was in all points a prince far superior to Edward II. 
Had he been trained by a father endowed with the noble qualities 
of Edward I., he might have run a peaceful course and lived and 

4—2 



82 CHAELES AND WE NT WORTH; [no pari. 

died in accord with his subjects. Charles' virtues, in fact, 
were his own, and displayed themselves in spite of his education. 
His manners and his tastes were refined, and his enemies were 
never able to deny that he was both a good husband and a 
good father. On the other hand, nature had bestowed on him 
no special gifts to counteract the evil effects of his political train- 
ing. His character was cold and unbending, and he was without 
any generous sympathies, that might have brought him to recog- 
nize good in cause or man opposed to his own fixed ideas. 
Obstinate and opinionated when he came to the throne at twenty- 
•four, so he remained to the last day of his life ; no amount of 
experience proved sufficient to teach him the necessity of yielding 
to public opinion, or even of listening with patience to arguments 
that offended his high notions of what was due to himself as a 
king. With such an education and such a character, he was born 
in an evil time for himself. He had found a minister who could 
put his wishes into act, for Wentworth set himself, with all the 
energy of his nature, to the support of arbitrary government. 
Having shared in the counsels of the patriots, and knowing their 
deep-rooted love of liberty, this clear-sighted counsellor never de- 
ceived himself into thinking that any half measures were sufficient 
for success. On the Continent, many instances had proved that 
a standing army was the surest support to an arbitrary throne. 
With a fleet only and without such an army, Wentworth would 
Advice of say, a government had but 'one leg to stand upon. ; To 
too^ood"f or secure an army he must have money. At present much 
Charles. f the monies taken from the pockets of the people 
passed into those of courtiers and their dependents, instead of 
enriching the royal exchequer. It was easier to save money than 
to get it, and Wentworth, therefore, advocated economy in admin- 
istration, in fact, the true financial policy of getting money's worth 
for money given. But Wentworth's advice was too good and his 
energy too great for his master. The minister was to be like the 
dwarf in the fairy tale, he was not to prescribe prudence but to 
save his employer from the results of imprudence. Advancing 
Wentworth as he did, Charles shrank from opposing the wishes of 
his wife and curtailing the perquisites of his friends. Under these 
conditions, the king's government might be violent, it could never 
be strong. 

Wentworth speedily concluded peace with France (April, 1629) 



jjggj COURT AND QUEEN. 6S 

and Spain (Nov., 1630). Experience had already proved that it 
was impossible to carry on war without applying to Parliament 
for aid To provide for the expenses of the court and govern- 
ment was no easy matter, even when the country was at peace. 

Charles' vain and passionate wife, Henrietta Maria, charaetor of 
who in an ill-temper could dash her hands through the Henrietta 
panes of a window, or turn a whole company out ot 
her presence with one of her royal scowls, was not a queen to be 
easily guided by a minister. With some, however, her smiles 
were fas potent as her frowns, and she soon won an ascendancy 
over her husband equal to that which Buckingham once exercised. 
To her, happiness meant a gay life at Whitehall, with a constant 
series of balls and masques, so that the expenses of the Charley 
court rose rapidly, and soon reached sums iar larger g0VOTi ment 
than those considered enormous in the time of James, corrupt 
Delighting, as she did, in the exercise of pow«r and patronage , it 
wi to the queen, and not to the king, or to Wentworth, that 
courtiers andVir dependents applied, in order to obtain lucrative 
monopolies, offices, or pensions. The court offices were, indeed 
Regarded as a sort of booty. Fixed salaries there -ere none 
but fees and perquisites were numerous, and every mans hand 
was open to a" bribe. There was no shame felt in the matte. 
The Earl of Dorset, a member o£ council, and a judge in the Star 
Chamber, openly declared that he thought it no crime for a cour- 
tier to receive a reward from one for whom he procured a favour. 
Out of the royal revenue* had to be provided, not only money 
sufficient to satisfy the desires of the court, but also to keep up 
the navy, to provide for the repairs of castles and forts, the ex- 
penses of ambassadors, and the salaries of officers of the executive. 
* The king's ordinary revenue consisted— 
(1 ) Of tines paid by feudal tenants. 

2 \ Of rents accruing from lands belonging to the crown. 
(3 ) Of fines and fees paid in courts of justice. 
U'{ Of forfeitures of lands and goods for offences. 

5 Of the first-fruits and tenths of all spmtual preferments m the king- 
don^ Tnelstluits or annates .ere the first year s who e pr o^s by a 

(Q)0£ the customduties, when granted to the king for life. To theso 
however, Charles had no legal claim. See p. 31. 



S4 DESPEKATE FINANCE. [no pam 

Since Parliamentary grants were out of the question and tha 
ordinary revenue did not nearly meet the demand, a raid was 
made upon the property of all classes of society. 

The nobility and gentry suffered as much as any. Holders of 

rSdV l Tt ° n the b ° rderS 0f ro ? al forests w ^re accused 
illegal ot having encroached on the king's domains ; the 

means judges received orders to ferret out the weak points 

of titles, and when the cases came into court, to intimidate jurors 
into giving verdicts in the king's favour. Adverse verdicts en- 
tailed fines of ruinous amounts, and the legal rule that no pre- 
scription holds good against the crown was carried so far that 
even lands held by a title of three hundred years were reclaimed 
as royal property. By these means, the bounds of Eockingham 
Forest were increased from six miles to sixty. But < depression 
of the nobility/ says Bacon, 'may make a king more absolute 
but less safe/ These, and similar encroachments, only helped to 
cement the alliance between peers and commoners. 

There was an old feudal custom, long fallen into disuse, that 
on the accession of a new king, all who held land of him by 
knights' service, worth above the paltry sum of ^20 per annum 
should receive the order of knighthood, or pay a fine. Fines 
were now exacted from noblemen and gentlemen in all parts of 
the country, for having neglected to be knighted when Charles 
came to the throne. The fines levied were three or four times 
the amount at which the delinquents would have been rated for 
subsidies. The Catholics in return for their support were allowed 
to compound at an easier rate.* 

The poor were also attacked. A statute, passed during the 
reign of Elizabeth, requiring that cottagers should have four acres 
of ground attached to their dwellings, had probably never been 

?aked u S enf ° rCed ' had certainl y lon S since fall en into disuse ■■ 
up - the poor householders were now held responsible and 
complained that they were " mightily vexed," for commissioners- 
were sent twenty miles round London to search out and fine 
those who had disobeyed the statute. The commissioners employed 
were "needy men of no fame, prisoners out of the Fleet," whose 
services, of course, could be cheaply bought ; the money they 
collected mostly went to enrich two lords, who had received as a 
favour from the king, leave to put the commission into execution. 
* Ellis, Orig. Letters, ii. eclxxi. 



1629 -j MONOPOLIES. 55 

If no old law could be raked up, Charles would act by procla- 
mation For instance, lie forbade by proclamation the building 
of new houses, in or about London. Builders either bought 
licences, or else ran the risk of being called to account and 
punished for disregarding the proclamation * Thus one man waa 
fined £1000, and ordered to pull down forty-two dwelling-houses, 
stables, and coach-houses, by a certain time, on pain of paying a. 
second £1000. Any classes who refused such black mail were 
severely dealt with. The innkeepers of London were inhibited 
from dressing any meat, because they declined to pay an excise 
duty on wine, when levied by the sole authority of the Council. 
They were soon glad to compound. , 

As a further means of raising money, the king granted or sold 
patents for the exclusive sale or manufacture of certain articles. 
The monopolists formed companies, of which all Monopolies 
traders or manufacturers were forced to - become 
members and obey the regulations. By these means taxes were 
laid on articles of every-day use and consumption, such as salt, 
com, lace, tobacco, barrels, linen, cloth ; but most of the money 
so raised, while impoverishing the nation by raising the price of 
all necessaries, enriched, not the king, but his courtiers and then- 
dependents. For instance, out of every £12 raised by the mono- 
poly of wine, only £1 reached the exchequer, the other £11 stop- 
ping by the way amongst the vintners and the owners of the 
patent If the companies sold bad articles, there was no redress. 
The poor women in London complained that the soap made by the 
company burnt the linen, scalded their fingers and was full of 
tallow and lime. The soap-boilers were Catholics, and got the 
queen's laundress to subscribe to the goodness of the soap, but 
"she tells her Majesty she does not wash her linen with any 
other than Castile soap, and the truth is, most of the ladies tha* 
have subscribed have their linen washed with Castile soap. 
The Lord Mayor, whom the women followed about in the streets, 

* Lawful proclamations were those— 

m Issued bv the crown in its purely executive capacity. 

2 Siting acts already prohibited bj 'law or calling on the subject 
4 n Perform some duty to which he was bound by law. 

l ° CXl proclamations were those usurping the ^^ % V^^ 
the crown by right could only exercise in common with the two Houses ot 
Parliament as for instance, those granting individuals privileges against 
fhe rights of others, imposing duties not imposed by law, prohibiting under 
penalties acts which the law did not recognize as oftences. 



66 PRIVILEGE OF PARLIAMENT. [no pabi* 

clamorously petitioning against the new soap, received a sharp 
reproof at the Council Board for giving too soft answers. The 
monopolies alienated London, which might have supplied the 
sinews of war to the king, as it eventually did for the Parlia- 
ment. It was noted that " discontinuance of Parliaments brings 
up this kind of grain, which commonly is blasted when they 
come." 

Besides being extortionate and arbitrary, the government was 
often cruel ; and the common law judges, instead of administer- 
ing justice impartially between subject and sovereign, allowed 
themselves to be made the instruments of oppression. Upon the 
dissolution of the last Parliament, several members of the Com- 
mons were imprisoned on warrants signed by the king, charging 
Members of them with having stirred up sedition. Their counsel 

late Parlia- 

ment com- argued that sedition was a bailable offence, and that, 
Sj]yto ille " therefore, they ought to be let free on bail. The 
prison. judges, however, following the king's instructions, 

required the prisoners, not only to find bail for the present 
charge, but securities for their good behaviour in the future. As 
they refused to comply with these demands, which would have 
kept them under the thumb of the court and its judges, they were 
ordered back into prison. 

These country leaders, who led the opposition in Parliament, 
risked much — property, liberty, life. Sir John Eliot, being of too 
noble a nature to be wrought upon either by corruption or intimi- 
dation, naturally became the victim of a government that always 
required submission before it relaxed its hold. He had long 
since been obliged to give away his property in trust for his 
children, to preserve himself and his family from ruin. An in- 
formation in the King's Bench was now brought against Hollis 
and Yalentine for raising a tumult in the Commons on the last 
day of the session, and against Eliot, for words spoken in the 
House. The three pleaded that the offences with which they were 

charged, being committed in Parliament, were not 
of King's punishable in any other place. The most important 
ifiot h ° U °f a ^ privileges of Parliament, freedom of speech con- 
Hollis, cerning matters of Parliamentary debate, was here 

called into question ; and the prisoners' counsel brought 
forward many precedents to show that the liberties and privileges 
of Parliament could only be determined in Parliament, and not 



1629.] DEATH OF ELIOT. 57 

by any inferior court. The King's Bench, however, decided that 
it had a right to judge the alleged offences, though committed in 
Parliament, and condemned the defendants to be imprisoned 
during the king's pleasure ; Eliot to pay a fine to the king of 
.£2000, Hollis 1000 marks* Valentine £500 (Feb. 12, 1630). t 

In the course of twelve months' time, the other prisoners either 
consented to find sureties for good behaviour, or paid their fines, 
or were allowed to go at large on some excuse or other. Sir John 
Eliot alone refused to make any concession of principle, and was still 
closely confined in the Tower. Consumption attacked him, and 
his doctors prescribed air and exercise, but he was not allowed 
to pass out of the walls of his prison. " I am now," he writes, 
" where candlelight may be suffered, but scarce fire f and this, 
though his lodgings had been changed to a dark End of Sir 
gloomy chamber. He sent a petition to the king, John Eliot, 
informing him that he had fallen into a dangerous disease, 
and praying to be allowed to take some fresh air. Charles 
replied that the petition was not humble enough. Sir John 
sent a second by the hand of his son. " I am heartily sorry," 
he wrote, "I have displeased your Majesty, and beseech 
you once again to command your judges to set me at liberty, 
that when I have recovered my health, I may return back 
to my prison." But no order for release came : and the 
Lieutenant of the Tower offered to present a third petition 
with his own hand, and made no doubt but that Charles would 
grant it if Sir John would only write so as to acknowledge his 
fault, and humbly pray for pardon. " I thank you. sir," re- 
plied Eliot, " for your friendly advice, but my spirits are grown 
feeble and faint, which when it shall please God to restore unto 
their former vigour, I will take it into consideration." He did 
not mean to use the language of a culprit, and purchase his 
own life by betraying the cause of the nation. Death soon re- 
leased him while still in the prime of his life (set. 40). His son 
sent a petition to the king, begging that his father's body might 
be buried in his own county of Cornwall. Charles wrote under 

* 1 mark = 13s. 4d. ; therefore.. 1000 marks, £666 13s. 4d. 

•}• In 1667, only seven years after the Kestoration, the Commons resolved 
that the judgment now given against Eliot, Hollis, and Valentine, though 
right as regarded the imputed riot, was illegal in extending to words spoken, 
in Parliament; the Lords concurred in the vote and reversed the judgment. 
This decision established, once for all, the privilege of freedom of speech iu 
Parliament, unlimited by any authority except that of the House itself. 



58 CHAEiCTEE OF ELIOT. [no pabl/ 

the petition these words : " 'Let Sir John Eliot's body be buried 
in the church of that parish where he died.' And so he was 
buried in the Tower." Such was the fate of one of the purest- 
hearted of patriots (1632). 

His history shows in an eminent degree the nobleness of the 
leaders of the opposition and the constitutional rectitude of their 
aims : with a true loyalty to his king, whom he tried in vain to 
urge into right courses, he won the leadership of the Commons, not 
more by his vivid eloquence than by the single-minded devotion 
of his character. There was a true pathos in his stoical bearing 
under suffering. In the solitude of his prison he bade his friends, 
* for their own sakes forbear coming to visit him.' Dying in the 
Tower he appealed to his son at college not to let him 'receive by 
any misconduct of his that wound which no enemy could give — 
sorrow and affliction of the mind.' The limit he gently put to 
the intercessions of the friendly governor reminds us of the scene 
in Plato when Socrates put Crito's appeal aside by telling him 
that he heard the laws of his land remonstrating with him ' to 
think of right first, and of life and children afterwards.' Thus, 
unlike the Koyalist victim of the Revolution, he departed ' as a 
sufferer and not a doer of evil.'* His country did not lose by his 
adherence to principle. In later times when the cause of liberty 
was in peril its defenders thought of Eliot and fought on.f 
Illegal Illegal judgments were now the curse of the nation* 

Courtofthe ^ nere th e common law courts could find no crime, 
North. the illegal courts came into action. North of the 

Humber. the Court of the North, of which "Wentworth was 
president, took the place of the Star Chamber in the south. Its 
origin was even more questionable. Henry VIII., after an insur- 
rection in 1536, issued a commission to the Archbishop of York 
and several gentlemen of the north, to examine into the grounds 
of the disorder, and to punish offenders in riots and conspiracies. 
But long after all traces of the insurrection had disappeared, the 
court remained, and its authority was gradually extended. The 
people dwelling north of the Humber complained that they were, 
shut out from the protection of the common law courts at. 
"Westminster, and that their personal liberty and property were 
at the mercy of arbitrary judges, who sentenced according to their 

* See p. 98, and Plato, "Crito," 54. 
t See p. 105. 



1629.] ILLEGAL COURTS. 6$ 

discretion. While the Court of the North was thus accused of 
encroaching even upon the civil jurisdiction of the Westminster 
courts, the Star Chamber was chiefly concerned with criminal 
cases, such as forgery, perjury, riot, libel, conspiracy, and every 
kind of misdemeanour. It adjudged any punishment short of 
death, as pillory, whipping, branding, cutting off the ears, fine, 
and imprisonment. 

The customs were levied with rigour, though they had never 
been granted to Charles by statute. 

Chambers, one of several merchants whose goods had been 
seized for refusing to pay illegal duties, vented his in- Sentence oi ; 
dignation by saying before the Council Board, "that the g^ £ ham " 
merchants in no part of the world were so screwed and Chambers, 
wrung as in England ; that in Turkey they had more encourage- 
ment." The judges of the common law courts could have found 
no law by which to inflict a heavy punishment for a few hasty 
words. The judges of the Star Chamber, guided in their judg- 
ment by their discretion, declared the expressions used were likely 
to make the people believe that Charles' happy government was a 
Turkish tyranny, and sentenced Chambers to pay a fine of £2000, 
and to sign a submission. Chambers wrote under the submission 
these words : "I do utterly abhor and detest the contents of 
this submission, and never, till death, will acknowledge any part 
thereof." He was refused by the judges his habeas corpus, and 
remained a prisoner many years. 

Wentworth, as the councillor who possessed most influence in 
the government, incurred the hatred of all lovers of liberty, with- 
out gaining the friendship of the queen or the court. Begardless 
of the interests of courtiers and their dependents, he Administra- 
resolutely endeavoured, as far as he could obtain wentworth. 
Charles' support, to govern with a view to increase the and Laud, 
power of the crown. This administration required the surrender 
of illicit gains, and the punishment of criminals, however close 
their connection with men in high places. While, therefore, its 
vices incurred the odium of the country, its virtues incurred the 
odium of the court. However much a Somerset or a Buckingham 
may have been hated by rival aspirants to royal favour, it was 
the men who were hated and not their regime. Under them, so 
long as the interests of the favourite remained untouched, free 
licence was given to all to make their fortunes by the first means 



CO WENTWORTH IN ENGLAND/ [no pael. 

that came to hand. The court and government of James had been 
thoroughly corrupt. The corruption of the courtiers under James 
had continued under Charles. But, where free rein was given 
him, Wentworth thus, not unaptly, describes the character of his 
administration : " Where I found a crown, a church, and a people 
spoiled, I could not imagine to redeem them from under the pres- 
sure with gracious smiles and gentle looks ; it would cost warmer 
water than so ... . True it was, indeed, I knew no other rule 
to govern by but by reward and punishment ; and I must profess 
that where I found a person well and entirely set for the service 
of my master, I should lay my hand under his foot, and add to 
his respect and power all I might ; and that where I found the 
contrary, I should not dandle him in my arms, or soothe him 
in his untoward humour, but if he came in my reach, so 
far as honour and justice would warrant me, I must knock him 
soundly over the knuckles."* In Yorkshire, as president of the 
Court of the North, by preventing the proceeds of his trenchant 
measures from being filched by petty tax-gatherers, he succeeded 
in raising the royal revenue in the four northern counties to four 
or five times its previous amount. In London, Laud was also a 
zealous servant of the crown, and though ruthlessly trampling on 
recalcitrant merchants who refused to pay illegal customs, would 
try to remedy abuses and give ear to complaints, if trade were in 
any way injured for the advantage of a courtier. 

In the year 1632 Wentworth was appointed Lord Deputy of 
Ireland. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James L, Ireland 
m t „ had for the first time been brought into complete 

Wentworth, 

LordDeputy subjection to English rule. English laws and English 
o re an . cus ^ oms k ac i been introduced into every province, 
and the Protestant Church established in place of the Catholic. 
The population was divided into three parts : 1st, the native 
Irish ; 2nd, the old English settlers in Dublin and the neighbour- 
ing counties of Kildare, Louth, and the two Meaths, which con- 
stituted ' the English pale ' ; 3rd, new English and Scotch 
settlers who had been planted upon lands taken from Irish rebela 
by Elizabeth and James. 

State of Ire- The Irish and old English settlers, forming a large 

land. majority of the population, were Catholics ; the new 

eettlers Protestants. Though the Acts of Supremacy and Uni- 

* Straff. Letters and Despatches, ii. 20. 



1632.] WENTWORTH IN IRELAND. 81 

formity had been enacted by an Irish Parliament, they were not 
fully put into force, because it was hardly possible to fine non- 
conformists, when 'in six parishes scarce six came to church/ 
Those, however, who refused to take the oath of supremacy 
when tendered, were shut out from holding any office in the State, 
or even from practising as lawyers. The people were ignorant 
and untaught. The Protestant clergy could not speak the same 
language as their flocks, and, while living with idle hands in a 
false position, had won for themselves an indifferent character. 
The Catholic bishops exercised far more power than the Protes- 
tant ; the great lords, whether English or Irish, oppressed their 
tenants ; the ministers of justice took bribes ; the officers em- 
ployed by the government, and the Protestant clergy, extorted 
large fees on every possible pretext ; an undisciplined army was 
scattered over the country, living at free quarters ; pirates from 
Dunkirk, Algiers, Spain, the Bay of Biscay, so infested the coasts, 
that the people were plundered in every creek ; while the cap- 
tains of the king's ships refused to move against them, alleging 
want of victuals, though the crews — 'mere rabbles of dis- 
orderly people ' — did the country more injury than the pirates 
themselves ; meantime merchant vessels were run aground, rifled 
and burnt in sight of Dublin Castle ; there was little trade ; the 
taxes did not pay the expenses of the government, so that there 
was a debt of ,£100,000 owing by the crown.* 

Wentworth was probably sent there because fair promises had 
been made to the Irish, which it was disagreeable to fulfil. The 
king hoped Wentworth's genius would keep Ireland quiet ; he 
could not yet have hoped it would forge Ireland into a weapon to 
use against English liberty, f Wentworth set himself to work to 
rule despotically, but after he had put first his master's interest, he 
showed some regard for that of the people entrusted to Went- 
him. No corruption was allowed ; the fees received by ministra^ 
the officers, high and low, in the government employ, tion - 
were inquired into ; judges were not allowed to act as mere in- 
struments of great lords' oppression : the army was remodelled ; 
discipline enforced ; Wentworth saw every single man himself, 
though it numbered nearly 4000 ; the soldier paid for all he took ; 
captains were made to understand that for the future they must 
perform garrison duty, must drill their troops, and provide them 
* Straff. Letters and Despatches, f See p. 89. 



32 WENTWORTH IN IRELAND. [no fabl. 

with good arms and horses, instead of appropriating the funds 
for their own uses. They soon found that the lord deputy was 
not the sort of man to jest with ; they had either to do as they 
were told, or leave the service. The navy was unfortunately in- 
dependent of his control. In Went worth's own words, it grieved 
his heart that he had no power over the Admiralty. His grief 
indeed was no matter for wonder. The ship that was conveying 
over from England his wardrobe, furniture, and plate, was seized 
on the passage by that same Captain Nutt whom James I. and 
Secretary Calvert in 1623 let loose a second time upon the 
world.* As it was, to protect Dublin harbour from pirates, 
he fitted ont a vessel at his own charge. He encouraged trade, 
but only so far as he thought the increase of Irish trade not detri- 
mental to that of England. Thus in order to ensure to English 
manufacturers a readier sale for their cloths from the absence of 
Irish competition, he actually destroyed the woollen trade in 
Ireland. At the same time he introduced into Ulster the manu- 
facture of linen from flax, erected looms, brought workmen from 
France and Flanders, and sent the first cargo of linen to Spain at 
his own risk. For this prohibitive policy in the supposed interest 
of England, Wentworth deserves no special blame. It is a blot 
attaching quite as much to the character of English parliaments as 
to that of English kings. What was special in that policy now, 
was the length to which it was carried. No deputy before Went- 
worth had been in possession at once of the necessary energy, 
determination, and disregard of human suffering, to uproot one 
branch of industry in the vain hope of seeing another spring up 
in a moment. Notwithstanding this suicidal act, the vigour of the 
government soon produced striking results ; the debts of the 
crown were paid off, and in four years the customs were raised 
from ,£1200 to £40,000 and were still on the increase. 

Yet the Irish felt no gratitude to the deputy, for if he pro- 
tected them from the oppression of the government officers, and 
of their own aristocracy, he laid their property open to the rapa- 
city of the king, and their personal freedom to his own vengeance. 

The Irish had been required by Elizabeth and James to sur- 
render their lands, in order to receive them back to hold by 
feudal tenure. The grants, by which the land had been restored, 
ought to have been enrolled in the Court of Chancery. But 
though the Irish of Connaught had paid £3000 for the purpose, 
* See p. 18. 



1634.] IRISH PARLIAMENT. 68 

the enrolment had in many cases been neglected, and James' 
council had advised him on this pretext to forfeit the whole pro- 
vince, and to plant English Protestants on the lands thus taken 
from their rightful owners. When Charles came to the throne, the 
Irish, in terror of this project, proposed to support an army of 
5000 men for three years, in return for fifty-three royal concessions 
or " graces." Of these the most important were, that the inhabi- 
tants of Connaught should be allowed to enrol their grants ; that 
the crown should lay claim to no estates that had been held for 
sixty years ; and that an Irish Parliament should be held to con- 
firm these graces. Charles had agreed, signed the graces, and pro- 
mised that a Parliament should be summoned to confirm them. 

This Parliament was at last summoned by Wentworth, wentworth 
after the army had been supported for four, instead of obtains a 
for three years, the time originally agreed upon. It from Irish 
would seem hardly credible that neither the king nor Parliament - 
his deputy, after having received the money, should have had the 
smallest intention of performing their part of the compact. Yet 
such was the case ; it was only with great reluctance that Charles 
allowed a Parliament, " that hydra, cunning as malicious/' to be 
summoned at all. Wentworth, however, was confident that he 
should be able to manage it, by playing off the jealousies of 
Protestants against Catholics, and of Catholics against Protes- 
tants, and succeeded so well, that he persuaded the Parliament 
to grant the king six subsidies, giving the members to understand 
that after they had proved themselves such dutiful subjects, the 
king would be sure to grant them their desires. Never were 
men more deceived. The perfidious deputy, when sure of the 
money, turned round and told the Commons that most of the 
graces were prejudicial to the crown, and that it was his duty to 
beseech his Majesty not to grant them. They were helpless. A 
law called Poyning's Law had been passed in 1495, by which no 
bills could be introduced into the Irish Parliament except/such 
as had been first allowed by the king and the English council. 
Hence the Irish House of Commons was not nearly so indepen- 
dent in action as the English, and the Parliament was dissolved 
without the most important graces having been passed into law. 

The consequences were soon experienced. Went- Lands in 
worth travelled west into Connaught, and inquired forfeited to 
into defective titles (1635). The Council Chamber, an crown. 



M WENTWORTH IN IRELAND, [no pakl. 

arbitrary court, answering the same purpose as the Star Chamber 
in England, fined the first jurors who declared against the crown 
.£4000 each. After this example, little resistance was made. 
Some lands were declared to belong to the crown, that had been 
held for 300 years, and land-owners were glad to be allowed to 
pay a rent to the king for part of their lands, and to give up the 
rest for him to bestow on new Protestant settlers. This attack 
upon their property was far from being all that the Irish suf- 
fered. The deputy's pride and vindictiveness were unparalleled. 
Any who offended he marked out for destruction, and hunted 
down. Lord Mountnorris, vice-treasurer in Ireland, and a captain 
in the navy, was suddenly summoned, with several other officers in 
Dublin, to attend the deputy at a council of war (12th Dec, 1635). 
Mountnorris found himself accused of having said, six months 
before, at a dinner table, that a gentleman, struck by Wentworth, 
" had a brother that would not have taken such a blow." The 
court, composed mainly of councillors, then and there, in the 
presence of the deputy, sentenced the victim to be deprived of all 
office, and to be shot dead. The latter part of the sentence Went- 
worth only intended to be passed, not executed ; the former he 
caused to be put in force, and prided himself on thus having 
humbled a man towards whom he had for a long time felt ill 
will. 

Laws against His ecclesiastical policy was somewhat less severe, 
not en- CS Though the endowments of churches had been given 
forced. to p ro testant bishops and clergymen, every parish was 

allowed its priest and its mass-house, simply because Wentworth 
did not feel himself strong enough to put the Act of Uniformity 
into full force. When the English should be more thickly settled, 
when there should be in the country an army composed entirely 
of Protestants, strong enough to crush rebellion, he looked forward 
to forcing every Papist to conform to the Protestant worship. 

Meantime the success of his Irish government did not lessen the 
number of the deputy's enemies at home. The queen and her tribe 
looked upon Ireland as a country where offices ought to be bestowed, 
as in England, upon her Majesty's recommendation. Wentworth 
begged the king that no office might be given away without the 
deputy's consent. Charles agreed, but ungenerously objected to 
make the denials himself. " You," he wrote, " must take upon 
you the refusing part." The disappointed courtiers displayed 



1632.] THIRTY YEAES' WAE. 65 

their spite by exclaiming against the deputy's pride and tyranny. 
True, they said, he refused to take bribes, but he was none the 
worse off, for he never gave any, as others refused his presents. If 
"Wentworth's enemies in London might be believed, Mountnorris 
was actually shot, and people could even tell where the bullets 
had entered his body. 

In spite of the great financial success of the Irish administra- 
tion, the revenue raised in that country could not possibly be 
made to provide for the expenses of the English government. 
Hence although Wentworth carefully husbanded his surplus 
funds, and although so many illegal modes of taxation were re- 
sorted to in England, poverty prevented Charles from rendering 
the Protestant cause on the continent any effectual support either 
by arms or by negotiation. 

The Thirty Years' War was still raging. The Em- Thirty 
peror Ferdinand II., after his armies had overrun the Years ' War - 
north of Germany, nourished hopes, not only of rooting the Pro- 
testant doctrines out of Germany, but also of reducing the 
Catholic princes to dependence upon Austria (1628 — 1630). But 
at the moment when his power seemed greatest, the Protestants 
were saved by the break up of the Catholic camp. The Catholic 
princes of Germany feared they niighu lose their own indepen- 
dence if they suffered the emperor to overpower their Protestant 
fellows. The pope himself, Urban VIII., alarmed at the inter- 
ference of Austria in Italy, joined the side of the French, and 
thus indirectly aided the Protestants. Finally Bichelieu, still 
the chief minister of Louis XIII., eager as his successors for a 
divided Germany, called on Gustavus Adolphus, King of 
Sweden, to help in restoring the German princes to their ancient 
rights, by overthrowing the tyranny of the einperor. 

Gustavus, with a small army of 30,000 men, defeated the Lxl- 
perial general, Tilly, at Leipzig (Sept., 1631), and penetrated into 
the heart of Bavaria. At Lutzen he defeated the celebrated 
"Wallenstein, and lost his own life (Nov., 1632). After his 
death every nation engaged was fighting for some special in- 
terest, and the war continued for seventeen years with varied 
success. Frederic, prince of the palatinate, died in 1632, still 
an exile from his dominions, but leaving his son to continue his. 
claims. 

6 



66 SHIP-MONEY. |no pakl. 

The course of Gustavus -was followed in England with, deep 
interest. English and Scotch volunteers, after serving in the 
Swedish armies, returned home to note with grief that while 
they had been fighting in defence of the Protestant faith and 
political rights, their own country was falling subject to the sway 
of a religion that differed little from the Romish, and of a 
tyranny in the State that threatened to make government by 
Parliaments a thing of the past. Wentworth's influence, how- 
ever, foiled the war-party ; " Good my lord," he wrote to Laud 
in 1637, "if it be not too late, use your best to divert us from 
this war [with Austria] ; it will necessarily put the king into all 
high ways possible, else will he not be able to subsist under the 
charge of it, and if these fail the next will be but the sacrificing 
those who have been his ministers." 

Coasts of Not only, however, was Charles too poor to aid the 

festedby*" Protestant cause, he could not even defend the coasts of 
pirates. his own kingdom. Dutch and French fishing vessels 

encroached on the English fisheries, refusing even to ' vail their 
flags' to the king's ships, while pirates from Algiers made 
descents upon the coasts of both England and Ireland, and carried 
off captives to be slaves to the Mussulman. 
„, . To raise a fleet, Charles ventured on a great strain 

bhip-money. * ° 

of his prerogative, A lawyer, Nov, had found in the 

Tower some old writs, calling on the ports and maritime counties 
to provide ships for the public service. It was suggested by Finch, 
chief justice of the Common Pleas, that the same demand should 
now be made, not only on ports and maritime places, but also 
on inland counties, and that instead of causing each county to 
jDrovide so many ships, a general tax under the name of ship- 
money, should be levied on land and property, in the same man- 
ner as a subsidy granted in Parliament. 

People wondered, and even dependents of "Wentworth ventured 
to express their dislike to the new imposition. " I would rather," 
one wrote, " pay ten subsidies in Parliament, than ten shillings 
this new-old -way of dead Noy^." None, however, had yet re- 
sisted illegal demands with impunity, and no immoderate oppo- 
sition being offered, Charles gained yearly a sum of about 
£200,000 by this tax. He employed, indeed, the money on the 
object for which it was nominally raised. The Dutch fishers 



1637] SHIP MONEY. 67 

one year bought licences, and Eainsborough led an expedition 
against Salee on the coast of Algiers, whence he brought back 
from slavery 370 Englishmen and Irishmen (1637). So far the 
fleet restored England's supremacy, and the court gloried in the 
success of this high-handed policy. Privy councillors would laugh 
when the expression ' Liberty of the subject ' was used before 
them ; they said that the taxes and monopolies in England were 
nothing compared with those endured by other king- Di scon t e nt 
doms, and that the people ought to be thankful for the general in 
happiness of England, which grew rich in long years of 
peace while cruel wars devastated the continent and its inhabi- 
tants perished from famine. The facts were true enough, but it 
offers no satisfaction to sufferers to be told that others suffer 
more. The English people, who prided themselves on the 
free constitution of their country, felt as though an insult were 
offered them when their condition was compared with that of the 
slavish peasant of France, who could call nothing his own.* 
Gentlemen, freeholders, artisans, would talk and argue about 
their rights, and regret their old government by Parliaments. 
The students at the Inns of Court were noted for their loyalty, 
but even they, in getting up a masque in the queen's honour, 
could not forbear having a sly cut at the government. After the 
well-mounted masquers, with their gold and silver lace, their 
cloth of tissue, their silver spangles, followed the antimasquers, 
cripples, and beggars, on " poor lean jades ;" amongst them a 
fellow with a bunch of carrots upon his head, and a capon upon 
his fist, who begged a patent of monopoly as the first inventor of 
the art to feed capons fat with carrots ; after him came riding a 
man on a little horse with a great bit, who begged a patent that 
none might use any bits but such as were made by him. The 
crowd in the streets applauded, understanding a covert reproach 
at the monopolies, which raised the prices of the commonest 
necessaries of life. 

* During the reign of Henri IV. the prisons of Normandy were full of 
prisoners unable to pay the tax on salt. So many died, that 120 corpses were 
taken out at a time. The Parliament of Rouen begged his Majesty to take 
pity on his people ; but the king, who had been informed that the tax waa 
very productive, said he wished it to be continued, and seemed as though ha 
would make a joke of the rest — ' Semblait qu'il voulut tourner le reste en 
ristSe.' — La valine, iii. 57. 

5—2 



€B HAMPDEN— SHIP-MONEY CASE. [no pa*c 

Judgmentof John Hampden, a gentleman of Buckinghamshire, 
Court of Ex- wa s among the first to endanger his property and 

cn6Qu.er in ox ± */ 

Hampden's liberty in support of his country's rights. He refused 
case ' to pay the twenty shillings at which a piece of his land 

was rated for ship-money. Charles consented to allow the case to 
be tried at law. He thought himself sure of the judges, for he 
had already obtained the signatures of all twelve to an extra- 
judicial opinion, publicly read in the Star Chamber, ' that his 
Majesty might command all his subjects to provide and furnish 
such number of ships with men, munition, and victuals, and for 
such time as he should think fit, for the defence and safeguard of 
the kingdom, and that he was the sole judge both of the danger, 
and when and how the same was to be prevented and avoided.' 

The cause of Hampden was pleaded for twelve days before 
all the twelve judges of the Westminster courts, who by virtue 
of the Star Chamber opinion, stood in the same relation to the 
parties, as though previous to a trial for murder they had in a 
public and notorious manner declared their belief in the innocence 
of the accused. The whole nation, poor and rich, Puritans and 
Episcopalians, alike waited eagerly for the judgment. 

Hampden's counsel brought forward what seemed an overwhelm- 
ing weight of evidence. They could point to the various statutes 
from Magna Charta to the Petition of Eight, that declared taxation, 
without consent of Parliament, illegal. Even if precedents to 
the contrary were to be found in times when " the government 
was more of force than of law," such, they argued, must give way 
before the authority of statute law. This was in fact unanswer- 
able. But the crown lawyers maintained that absolute power 
— power to act without consent of Parliament — was innate 
in the person of the King of England. Some of the judges 
in giving sentence treated all constitutional statutes as waste 
paper. " Where Mr. Holborne," said Justice Berkeley, " sup- 
posed a fundamental policy in the creation of the frame of 
this kingdom — that in case the monarch of England should be 
inclined to exact from his subjects at his pleasure, he should be 
restrained, for he could have nothing from them but upon a 
common consent in Parliament — he is utterly mistaken herein. 
The law knows no such king-yoking policy. The law is itself 
an old and trusty servant of the king's ; it is his instrument or 
means which he useth to govern his people by. I never read noi 



1637.] FAVOURS TO CATHOLICS. 6* 

heard that lex was rex, but it is common and most true that rex 
is lex." " The king," said another, u may dispense with any law 
in cases of necessity.'' Out of the twelve judges only two pro- 
nounced in favour of Hampden ; one of these had intended to 
give his judgment on the side of the crown, but changed his 
mind through the persuasion of his wife, who bade him not to 
fear danger for himself or his family, for she would sooner suffer 
any want or misery with him, than that he should act against his 
conscience (1637-8). 

But at the moment when the victory of the king seemed com- 
plete and courtiers were most exultant, danger was nearer than 
they thought. The decision gave universal discontent. It is hard 
to have your property taken from you illegally, but harder still 
to be told that that illegality is law. It was a Cadmean victory 
Charles had won ; the levying of ship-money was more difficult 
after the verdict than before, and he could not put thousands 
into prison for expressing discontent. Wentworth, wiser than his 
master, had not approved of the trial at all — " Hampden," like 
other opposers of tyranny, " had better have been whipped into 
his right senses ;" " if the rod be so used that it smarts not, I 
am the more sorry." 

The nation hated the government of the State as arbitrary, 
corrupt, and cruel; it hated, however, still more the con- 
nivance at Popery, which characterized the government of 
the Church. During the reign of Elizabeth, several severe 
laws had been passed against Catholics, condemning Government 
priests and Jesuits to suffer death as traitors, forbid- church. 
ding the exercise of the Catholic worship, and ordering recusants 
who refused to attend service in the parish church, to pay a fine 
of ,£20 a month. But now these laws were not put into force ; 
fines were not regularly levied : if priests were arrested, they 
were at once discharged on warrants signed by the king or his 
secretaries. A Catholic chapel, built at Somerset House for Queen 
Henrietta's use, was publicly consecrated with three days' cere- 
monies, masses, and singing of litanies. Agents from the court of 
Rome actually resided in London ; they were known to everybody ; 
their carriages rolled down the streets without any one daring to 
say a word against them. Many of the courtiers, some of the 
king's council, and even some of the bishops, were open or con- 
cealed Catholics ; court ladies constantly went over to Rome, and 



70 FEELING AGAINST CATHOLICS. [no paiu. 

the queen's Capuchin friars boasted that not a week passed but 
there were two or three conversions. 

The king, however, all the time, had no thoughts of weakening 
his own prerogative by making the Church of England depen- 
dent on a foreign see. He was courting Eome to procure the 
pope's interest for the restoration of the palatinate to Charles, the 
eldest son of his sister, Elizabeth. The pope, on his side, was 
willing to keep on good terms with the heretical government, in 
order to save English Catholics from persecution. In itself this 
toleration was laudable. The motives, however, that influenced 
Charles to exercise it, were no enlarged views of religious tolera- 
tion. He forbore to put the laws against Catholics in force, 
because the Catholics supported his pretensions to arbitrary 
power. The public law was set aside by a private agreement. 
At the same time, to make the contrast more bitter, Puritans, 
often guiltless of any crime at law, were suffered to pine away in 
prison under sentences of the courts of High Commission and 
Star Chamber. 

Various causes afford excuse for the bitter and intolerant spirit 
Excuse for w ith which the Puritan regarded his Catholic fellow- 
of Puritans, countrymen. Many still lived who could recall to 
mind the events of 1588, when the Armada threatened the shores 
of England. Thousands still lived who remembered the discovery 
of the Gunpowder Plot. Jesuits had taught the doctrine, that here- 
tic princes might be dethroned and murdered. Several attempts 
had been made upon Elizabeth's life. William the Silent, the 
heroic maintainer of Dutch liberty, had perished by the hand of 
a fanatic. The same fate had befallen the great Henri IV. of 
France. Diversity in the Church was thought incompatible with 
unity in the State. On the continent, not only did Catholics 
persecute Protestants, and Protestants Catholics, but one Protes- 
tant sect could not tolerate another ; in England Presbyterians- 
approved of the persecution of sectarians. In fact the principles 
of toleration had hardly as yet been enunciated, much less had 
they received a fair trial. It is experience alone that gives con- 
fidence, and few are bold enough to enter upon an untried course 
of action. The ordinary Englishman regarded the free toleration 
of Catholics as a crime both against his God and his country ; as 
a Protestant he considered it a direct encouragement to the 
b-pread of idolatry and superstition ; as a patriot, an opening for 



1637 -j THE PUEITANS. 71 

Catholic priests to usurp political power, and bring England again 
into dependence upon a foreign jurisdiction. 

There were, indeed, grounds for the fear, entertained by -atony, 
that a union would finally be effected between the Established 
Church of England and of Borne. Altars and images were restored 
to churches ; popish ceremonies were revived, popish doctrines 
taucdrt ; the work of the Eeforniation was in part undone ; the 
worshipper was required to believe that all his church taught 
him was true and necessary for salvation, even though her teach- 
in- found no foundation in the Bible ; and again, in order to hold 
communion with God, he must seek the aid of priests g«**£ 
and assist in ceremonies he regarded as superstitious, tans. 
But though a Puritan, even if a Presbyterian or sectarian, could be 
forced to conform and attend his parish church, he could not be pre- 
vented from spreading his opinions and making them felt by others 
For his manners and his conduct betrayed him, and they were such 
as to command approval. Morality was inculcated by the ministers 
of the Church, as much as by the more popular preachers, but 
practice is more than profession, and that Church was supported 
by a court which treated vice lightly and made a scoff of virtue. 
The genuine Puritan, on the contrary, was distinguished by his 
strict observance of the moral virtues. He sought in the Bible, 
but more especially in the books of the Old Testament, for the 
rules by which to guide his actions ; he gained a vivid conception 
of a personal God, with whom his own soul could enter into .direct 
communion, and beneath whose displeasure it was fata to fall ; 
and he felt with the Hebrew of the Old Testament "he that 
keepeth the law, happy is he ; its ways are ways of pleasantness 
and all its paths are peace ; if thouhadst walked m its ways, thou 
shouldst have dwelt in peace for ever." 

Imbued with such feelings, a certain seriousness of demeanour 
characterized the Puritan, and he not unnaturally preferred to 
pass his time in listening to sermons, in prayer, and in attending 
to the business of his calling, to idly seeking amusement at the 
theatre, the fair, or the dance, where he was sure to hear coarse 
and profane language spoken, and to fall into the society of 
drunkards. Confident that his conduct was approved by God, 
he could look down upon the unregenerate, and regard their 
scoffs with contempt. Amongst uneducated tradesmen and arti- 
Bans, there were manv fanatics, who refused to take part m any 



72 LAUD AS PERSECUTOR. [no pahl. 

amusements, however innocent, and who almost seemed to court 
ridicule by their austere mode of life, their ostentatiously plain 
dress, their close-cut hair, and their frequent use of the words of 
scripture. 

At the head of the Church stood Laud, Archbishop of Canter- 
Character of bury. A man more unsuited to assuage the religious 
Laud. passions of the times could hardly have held the posi- 

tion. However great a virtue in itself, sincere zeal, when untem- 
pered by charity, has produced the cruellest of persecutors. Some 
by nature are possessed of a largeness of mind that enables them 
to sympathize with the thoughts and feelings of others ; while to 
some experience and education teach the duty, or at least the 
necessity of tolerating what they fail themselves to understand. 
Laud was sincere in his views, but nature had not generously gifted 
him with the quality of mercy. He came into power untutored by 
the experience won by working with others of different opinions. 
His abilities were only ordinary, and though his education was 
good for his time, it gave him learning rather than wisdom, and 
never succeeded in making up for the deficiencies of his heart. The 
new opinions seething around were nothing to him but a trouble- 
some and dangerous fanaticism that required to be suppressed. Such 
sincere bigots placed in power have often wrought their country 
untold harm. They may by force succeed in stifling the new 
movement for years, perhaps for centuries ; but, in either case, it 
is sure at last to break forth, possibly in some new form, and 
always with dangerous violence. Philip II., acting in the full 
belief that his work was sacred, drove freedom of thought out of 
Spain ; hence, to this very day, the tyranny of extremes retards 
his country's advance and prosperity. Happily for England, 
Laud's success was of short duration. The reaction came in his 
lifetime, and he paid a heavy penalty for his rash attempt to force 
conformity upon a people panting for spiritual freedom. 

The courts held by bishops, as well as the Court of High Com- 
Puritans mission, called to account ministers and laymen who 
conform, did not attend church, or who failed to perform every 
ceremony exactly as ordained in the Prayer-book, or, indeed, 
as prescribed by Laud on his sole authority. A minister of 
Durham, for speaking in a sermon against the use of pictures and 
images, was degraded by the Court of High Commission, fined 
i!500, and placed in prison, where he waited eleven years for the 



1637.] PRYNNE AND LILBURNE. 73 

hour of release. The Court of Star Chamber, in which Laud him- 
self sat as a judge, was always ready to support the cause of the 
Church. Three professional men, Prynne, a lawyer ; Burton, a 
London minister ; and Bastwick, a doctor, had written books in- 
veighing against the bishops. On being brought before Sentences of 
the Star Chamber, they were charged with felony, for b er on B Ur . 
having tried to stir up sedition, and sentenced to pay ^^. Bast " 
fines of £5000 each, to stand in the pillory in Palace Prynne. 
Yard, Westminster, to have their ears cut off, and to be im- 
prisoned for life. 

" So far," said Bastwick, addressing the crowd, surging round 
the pillories, " am I from base fear, or caring for anything that 
they can do, that had I as much blood as would swell the Thames, 
I would shed it every drop in this cause. Therefore, be not any 
of you discouraged, be not daunted at their power." " Had we," 
said Prynne, "respected (regarded) our liberties we had not 
stood here at this time." " Sir," said a woman to Burton, 
"there are many hundreds which, by God's assistance, would 
willingly suffer for the cause you suffer for this day." A 
mournful cry arose from the crowd, as the prisoners' ears were 
cropped, and many pressed forward to dip handkerchiefs into 
the blood streaming down the scaffold. 

John Lilburne, a young man about twenty years Lttbume re- 
old, was brought before the Star Chamber on a charge fuses illegal 
of being concerned in bringing seditious books over 
from Holland. He was required to swear, laying his hand 
upon the Gospels, to answer truly all questions put to him. He 
refused. " The oath," he said, " is of the same nature as the High 
Commission oath, which oath I know to be unlawful, and withal 
I find no warrant in the word of God for an oath of inquiry, and 
therefore, my lords, I dare not take it."* In accordance with 
his sentence, Lilburne was tied to a cart's tail and whipped from 
the Fleet prison to Westminster Yard, at every two or three steps 
receiving on his bare back a blow from a knotted treble-corded 
whip. The young enthusiast never flinched, but all the way 
quoted texts of Scripture, exhorting the crowd to resist the 
bishops. At Westminster Yard he bowed to his judges, whom 
he saw looking out at him from the Court of Star Chamber win- 

* State Trials, 1. 



74. PEESECUTION OF PUKITAtfS. [no pasl. 

dow, and then sitting in the bent painful attitude required by the- 
pillory, continued his exhortations. " I will never take the oath,, 
though I be pulled to pieces by wild horses ; neither shall I think 
that man a faithful subject of Christ's kingdom, that shall at any 
time hereafter take it. My brethren, we are all at this present 
in a very dangerous and fearful condition, in regard we have 
turned traitors unto our God, in seeing His almighty great name 
and His heavenly truth trodden under foot, and yet we not only 
let the bishops alone in holding our peace, but most slavishly 
subject ourselves unto them, fearing the face of a piece of dirt 
more than the almighty great God of heaven and earth, who is 
able to cast both body and soul into everlasting damnation." He 
was still addressing the people in the same strain, when the 
warden of the Fleet came and placed a gag on his mouth. 

Such were the means taken by the archbishop to crush the spirit 
of the Puritans, and by him not considered sufficiently "thorough." 
As if for the sole purpose of irritating his opponents, the king, 
by his advice, ordered a proclamation, called the Book of Sports,, 
to be read by ministers after service, declaring that certain 
games, such as leaping, vaulting, and wrestling were lawful on 
Sundays. It had been originally published by James, but its 
reading not enforced. Now no minister might escape. Thirty 
who refused to obey in the diocese of Norwich — a stronghold of 
Puritanism — were suspended. Some temporized. A London 
minister read the proclamation, and after it the ten command- 
ments. "Dearly beloved," he said, "you have heard the com- 
mandment of God and of man, obey which you please." 
•Lecturers' The Puritans raised subscriptions for purchasing, 
put down, from laymen their right of presentation to livings and. 
for hiring lecturers to preach on afternoons in market towns. 
But Laud, not content with ordering that lecturers should wear 
the surplice and read the service, determined to break up the 
whole association. The trustees were declared by the Court of 
Exchequer to have misused the funds with which they were 
entrusted, and the whole were forfeited to the king, to be used 
for the good of the Church and the maintenance of conformable- 
ministers. The Church, however, lost its hold on the people, when 
it lost the most earnest and most popular of its preachers. Into 
the livings of the ejected Puritans were put ignorant men or court 
clergy, who bade their people be passively obedient, while they 



1637.] PERSECUTION OF PUEITANS. 7& 

lost their cherished liberties. Of such pastors Milton wrote, 
as — 

" Blind mouths that scarce themselves know how to hold 

A sheephook, or have learned aught else the least 

That to the faithful herdsman's art belongs ! 

What recks it them ? What need they ? They are sped ; 

And when they list, their lean and flashy songs 

Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw ; 

The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, 

But swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, 

Eot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; 

Beside what the grim wolf with privy paw* 

Daily devours apace, and nothing said." 

While Laud thus awoke the hate of Puritans by intolerance, he 
aroused that of the laity geuerally by endeavouring to raise the 
political importance of the Church. As a politician, he was both 
ambitious and unscrupulous, as might be expected of one who 
had risen to power at the heels of Buckingham. Courts held by 
bishops now sent out writs in their own names, instead of in that 
of the king. Clergymen were made justices of the peace in place 
of country gentlemen. Bishops sat in the king's council and in 
the Court of Star Chamber. Juxon, Bishop of London, was ap- 
pointed by the king to the influential and coveted office of lord 
treasurer. "Now," wrote Laud in his diary, "if the Church 
will not hold themselves up under God, I can do no more." 

In order to escape persecution and tyranny, new Emigration 
homes were sought in America. In Virginia a Church to America - 
of England colony had been founded by adventurers in 1607. 
The earliest settlers in New England were the Pilgrim Fathers, 
a body of persecuted sectarians, who had sailed across the Atlantic 
in the " Mayflower," in 1620. Ehode Island was colonized in 1634, 
and liberty of conscience established. Lord Baltimore, a Poman 
Catholic, granted the same boon to all settlers in Maryland (1638). 
In the ten years preceding 1640, the number of emigrants to 
New England was estimated at 21,200. 

The Presbyterian Church had been long since established in 
Scotland by an act of the Scotch Parliament (1592). James I., 
however, had succeeded by not very creditable means in restoring 
Scotch bishops to the possession of their former titles, though to 
little of their former influence and position. 

* For the conversions to Popery, see p. 69. 



76 LITURGY FOR SCOTLAND. [wo pael. 

Charles and Laud now determined on setting up a church 
government in Scotland, to answer in all respects to that esta- 
blished in England. Canons, to regulate the Church of Scotland, 
were drawn up by the Scotch bishops, and afterwards revised 
by Laud, in which no place was left for the action of any Presby- 
terian assemblies. The following year, in place of "Knox's 
Liturgy," as the Service-book ordinarily used by the Scots was 
called, a new Prayer-book, nearly the same as the English, was 
ordered to be read in all churches, from the 23rd July, 1637. In St. 
Giles', the cathedral church of Edinburgh, no sooner had the dean 
opened the new liturgy, than all the lower order of people in the 
church began to scream, clap their hands, hiss and groan, making 
such a hideous outcry that no one could either hear or be heard. 
Episcopacy The cry was, " Sorrow, sorrow, for this dreadful day ; 
in Scotland, they are bringing Popery amongst us." Sticks, stones, 
Bibles, stools, were hurled at the dean's head. In other places the 
Prayer-book received a like reception. By most it was looked 
on as little better than the mass itself. Its very exterior gave 
offence to the Presbyterian ; the red and black type, the Gothic 
letters, pictorial capitals, and other illustrations, seemed to imply 
a revival of Catholic times. The nobles were afraid of being 
required to restore church property acquired at the Eeformation ; 
when not moved by religious fervour themselves, their interests 
made them at heart on the side of the rioters. 

The whole nation was enraged. When James I. had introduced 
changes into the Presbyterian form of church government, he 
had at least obtained the sanction of a corrupt church-assembly 
and parliament. But Charles was endeavouring to establish the 
Episcopalian Church in the place of the Presbyterian, upon his 
own sole authority, as though he were indeed an absolute monarch, 
able to make laws without the consent of his subjects. 

The king, to whom a tumult raised by the rabble seemed no 
cause for alarm, sent orders that the new Service-book was still 
to be read. The lords of the Scotch council, however, dared not 
put his commands into execution. They Were themselves as- 
saulted in the streets of Edinburgh by an infuriated mob, and 
only rescued from death by the nobles and gentry, who now, 
following the example of the people, came flocking into the capital 
to sign an accusation against the bishops (18th Oct., 1637). 



1639.] THE SCOTCH COVENANT. 77 

The tumults rapidly took the form of rebellion : a 
council was chosen, composed of members from the into a cove- 
four classes, nobles, gentry, clergy, burgesses, which ^Vof^e- 
soon became a new power in the State, more formid- Hgious laws 
able than the king's council (15th Nov., 1637) ; at last, 
a national league was formed under the name of the Covenant 
(a forerunner of the 'Solemn League and Covenant' with the 
English in 1643), binding the signers to reject the new canons 
and liturgy, and to defend their sovereign, their religion, their 
laws, and liberties (1st March, 1638). An assembly of the 
Church, which met at Glasgow, refused to dissolve at the 
instance of the Duke of Hamilton, the king's deputy (28th 
Nov., 1638), and proceeded to abolish liturgy, canons, and epis- 
copacy itself. After thus defying the royal authority, the Cove- 
nanters prepared for war. The question of war had also to be 
debated in the king's council at home. The critical moment was now 
come, when the strength of the government was put to the test. 
" I am not for war," wrote one of the privy council ; " in the ex- 
chequer there is but £200 ; the magazines are totally -war with 
unfurnished ; commanders are there none for execution Sc °tkmd. 
or advice ; the people are so discontented, there is reason to fear 
a greater part of them will be readier to join the Scots than to 
draw swords in the king's service." Wentworth, who did not 
despair so quickly as these panic-stricken councillors, began to 
increase the size of the army in Ireland, and to call for sterner 
measures against defaulters. Yet to advise Charles to do nothing 
by halves, to introduce episcopacy into Scotland, and to govern 
that country as he himself governed Ireland, was much like tell- 
ing a man with a palsied hand to drive the nail home. The deputy, 
so proud of his Irish government, could not, or would not, read 
aright the signs of the times. Some of the council advised the 
calling of a Parliament, but Charles could not hear the pro- 
posal with patience. Money was therefore raised by loans and 
other illegal means. By the spring of 1639 an army of Charles and 
some 12,000 men was fitted out, and the king pro- ceecUo* " 
ceeded to York, followed, not only by his court, but by York. 
all the nobility and most influential gentry of the kingdom, whom 
he summoned to attend his person at their own charge, as had 
been customary in feudal times. He hoped by this display to 
overawe his needy Scottish subjects. 



78 PACIFICATION AT BERWICK, [no pael., 1639. 

But the Scots were too much in earnest, and too well under- 
stood the state of feeling in England, to be easily overawed. By 
the time Charles reached Berwick, it was evident that they could 
not be reduced that summer. The first English force that saw 
the face of an enemy, made a precipitate retreat. The courtiers 
who longed for a return to their pleasures, the nobles and gen- 
tlemen who desired a redress of their wrongs, all urged the ne- 
cessity of coming to an agreement with the Covenanters. Charles 
Pacification f° un d himself obliged to sign a Pacification at Berwick, 
of Berwick. f n which it was agreed that both a Parliament and a 
Church Assembly should be summoned in Scotland, for the settle- 
ment of all grievances, religious and civil (18th June, 1639). 

The king, however, signed the agreement merely as a temporary 
measure, and with the full intention of raising a larger force and 
renewing the war next summer. The Scots had plenty of friends 
in England to warn them of the policy pursued ; how Wentworth 
had been summoned from Ireland, and created Earl of Strafford ; 
how the Irish army was being increased in size ; how a new army 
was being raised in England, and every nerve strained to get 
money. 

In foreign policy meantime Charles had been inconsistent 
and wavering. At one time he had entered into negotiations 
with France, at another with Spain, for the restoration of the 
palatinate to his nephew. Now, therefore, that he was involved 
Foreign m difficulties with his subjects, governments which 
govern- na d received cause of offence assumed an unfriendly 
friendly to attitude. The pope forbade the Catholics to be so 

iar es * ready in lending money and offering to serve in the 
army, for after all, Laud's religion, which did not acknowledge 
the pope as head of the Church, was no more the Catholic reli- 
gion than that of the Puritans. The Dutch grew so insolent 
that they destroyed a Spanish fleet which was riding in the Downs 
under Charles' own protection, while the English ambassador 
wrote from Spain that the Spaniards were instigating the Irish 
to rebel. Bichelieu, bearing in mind the expeditions in aid of 
Bochelle, now took the opportunity to repay his injuries by send- 
ing supplies of money and arms to the Covenanters. A copy of 
a letter written by the Scots to Louis XIII. was intercepted by 
Charles, who thought that with this proof of treason in his hand, 
he might venture on meeting a Parliament. But indeed, the neces- 



mat, 1640.] SHOUT PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. 79 

sity of calling a Parliament if the war were to be con- IU al . 
tinued, was daily becoming more and more manifest, mands op- 
' Men's consciences awoke/ and forbade them to pay pose . ' 
ship money. Even in Yorkshire, where Strafford possessed sc 
much influence, gentlemen refused to equip soldiers without re- 
ceiving some security for repayment of the money. Strafford 
advised the lords of the council to send for them to London, and 
" lay them up by the heels."* " What," he asked, " should be- 
come of the levy of 30,000 men in case the other counties should 
return the like answer 1" A pregnant question, for everywhere 
the same spirit was manifested ; London refused loans, country 
gentlemen made excuses, and the king was at last driven to that 
resource, which last year he would not hear mentioned. He 
summoned his fourth Parliament on the 13th April, 1640. 

Charles asked for an immediate grant of money. 

. Charles* 

Pym rose, and in a speech of two hours, while speak- fourth Par- 
ing respectfully of the king, laid bare the offences of liameut - 
the government against religion, justice, and the power and 
privilege of Parliament. The House, with deep attention, heard 
him out, and then voted that they would find a remedy for their 
grievances before granting the king a supply. The letter of the 
Scots to Louis XIII. did not trouble the Commons at all, and was 
no fair proof of treason, as it was dated before the Pacification 
of Berwick. " The people," it was said, " would sooner pay sub- 
sidies to prevent the unhappy war than to carry it on." Grievances 
formed such an ample subject of debate, that Charles, growing 
impatient, sent a message saying, if the Parliament would grant 
him twelve subsidies, to be paid in three years, he would never 
levy ship money without consent of Parliament (4th May, 1640)* 
Though the Commons felt indignant that they should be asked 
to purchase immunity from an illegal tax, they were about, after 
a long debate, to put the question to the vote, whether a supply 
should be given to the king, without, for the present, specifying 
any particular sum, when Sir Henry Vane, Charles' secretary, 
rose and said it was of no use to put # that question, for the king 
would not accept less than he had asked. In disgust the House 
broke up ; and the next morning, Charles having lost patience, 
dissolved the Parliament (5th May, 1640). 

* I.e., to fetter, or put in gyves. See Shaks. Henry VIII. v. 3. 



80 PEEES AT YOEK. [no pael. 

Arbitrary measures were now again employed to raise money 
for the war ; and refusers of loans were imprisoned. But no 
severity was able to suppress the spirit of opposition. The gentry 
of Yorkshire sent a petition to the king, complaining of the bil- 
leting of unruly soldiers, " to whose violence and insolence we are 
so daily subject, as we cannot say we possess our wives and chil- 
dren in security. Wherefore, 5 ' continues the petition, "we are 
emboldened to present these our complaints, beseeching your 
Majesty that, as the billeting of soldiers in any of your subjects' 
houses is contrary to the ancient laws of this kingdom confirmed 
by your Majesty in the Petition of Eight, this insupportable 
Soldiers mu- charge mav be taken off."* Eiots broke out in Lon- 
tinous ; re- don ; the militia refused to serve ; officers and soldiers 
g ' said they would not fight ' to support the power 
and pride of bishops.' Soldiers had to be pressed, and arti- 
sans were daily dragged from the shops and forced on board 
the fleet. A disorderly army was at length formed ; when 
formed it would not fight. Some regiments dispersed of them- 
selves ; others killed officers who were Catholics ; others broke 
open the prisons, and made havoc of the country through 
which they passed. Before Strafford, the general of the army, 
reached the camp, his soldiers fled before the enemy ; this 
was at Newburn Ford, on the borders of the two kingdoms 
(28th Aug., 1640). The Scots, having by this easy success gained 
possession of the passage of the Tyne, entered Newcastle without 
opposition, and continued to advance in the direction of York. 

Charles' weakness was now proved. Doubtful and despondent, 
he knew not what to do or whither to turn for counsel. The Irish 
army, though in good training, was only about 5000 strong, and was 
required in Ireland to overawe the people. The Scots were in the 
kingdom, masters of the four northern counties, while his own army 
refused to fight. Yet a Parliament seemed a terribly caustic remedy 
to apply to his difficulties, and he bethought himself of calling an 
assembly, composed solely of peers, as had occasionally been the 
Assembly of custora of English kings four centuries before, when the 
peers at House of Commons was hardly recognized as an in- 
tegral part of the government. Perhaps, thought 
some credulous courtier, this assembly of peers might even vote 

* Petition of Yorkshire gentry, 28th July, 1640, MSS. Clar. Pap. and 
Eushworth. 



NOV., 1640.] LONG PARLIAMENT SUMMONED. 81 

the king money. But the nation thought otherwise. " If," said 
two lords consulted by the king's council, " it be intended to 
raise money by any other way than a Parliament, it will give no 
satisfaction."* Charles was left in no doubt of his subjects' 
wishes ; counties sent petitions for a Parliament ; twelve of the 
chief peers of the realm signed a petition for a Parliament ; the 
City of London petitioned for a Parliament ; the Scots sent a 
petition : ' they were loyal subjects, their grievances were the 
cause of their being in arms ; they begged their king to settle 
a firm and durable peace by advice of a Parliament/ Charles 
So at last, forced by necessity, Charles yielded. When KTti^Par- 
the peers met at York (24th Sept., 1640), he informed liament. 
them that he had already sent out writs for a Parliament, and 
asked their advice for treating with the Scots. " They were so 
taken," writes the king's secretary, " with his Majesty's speech 
and with his Majesty's offer of a Parliament that whatever was 
afterwards proposed they yielded to. . . . There is no doubt but 
this black storm will be dispersed."f 

Sixteen peers, none of them favourable to arbitrary govern- 
ment, negotiated with eight Scottish commissioners at Eipon. It 
was agreed that a cessation of arms should be made for two 
months ; that both armies should remain where they were; that the 
northern counties should support the Scottish army by paying it 
.£5600 a week, until a peace should be concluded in London 
(23rd Oct., 1640). Then king, lords, and Scottish commissioners 
hastened to the capital, where Charles met his fifth and last Par- 
liament (3rd Nov., 1640). 

* Clar. State Papers, 1—112. 

f Windebank to Sir A. Hopton, 1st Oct., 1640, MSS. Clar. Papers in. 
Bodleian. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

MEETING OF LONG PARLIAMENT AND TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. 
1640—1641. 

Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king 1 , he would not in mine age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies. — Henry VIII., iii. 2. 

"Westminster Hall, in the year 1640, was just the same build- 
ing that we see to-day : but the house in which the Commons 
sat was utterly different. At right angles to the hall, between 
it and the river, stood a building which was once a chapel of the 
old palace of Westminster, but was now fitted with tiers of horse- 
shoe benches for the members of the Commons. The building 
House of itself was small, somewhat dingy and gloomy ; though 
Commons, sittings were generally by day, on winter afternoons 
candles were placed on a table in the centre. The appearance of the 
members, however, belied the meanness of their meeting-house; for 
these were peers' sons, country gentlemen, merchants, lawyers, dis- 
tinguished in their towns or counties for birth or wealth, or both ; 
their dress displayed their quality — the sword by the side, the vel- 
vet coat, the large frilled linen collar to protect the lace and gold or 
silver trimming from the long hair falling in curls upon the shoulders, 
were sure signs that the House did not count among its members 
any of the fanatics from the lower orders, who cut their hair close 
and prided themselves upon the especial plainness of their attire. 
Leading Chief amongst the many notables of that assembly were 
members. John p^ John Hampden, Lord Falkland,* Edward 
Hyd e, Oliver Cromwell . Tym, the old opposer of tyranny in the pre- 
vious reign ; Hampden, the ship-money hero, gentle and affable to 
all, aud now the most popular man in the House ; Lord Falkland, 
whose truthful, generous nature made him the declared enemy of 
injustice in high places ; Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and 

* He had succeeded his father (Sir H. Cavy, Deputy of Ireland), as second 
Viscount of Falkland, in the county of Fife, in Scotland. He sat as burgess 
for Newport, Scotch peers being eligible before the Act of Union (1707). 



»ov., 1640.] MEETING OF LONG PARLIAMENT. 83 

the Koyalist historian of the Kebellion, now carried along with the 
stream, and as eager as his friend Falkland to restore the old govern- 
ment of England by Parliaments ; Cromwell, member for the town 
of Cambridge, a country gentleman, dressed in a plain cloth suit ; 
and as yet little remarked, save for his activity in defending the 
poor of his own neighbourhood from oppression. 

The members of both Houses of Parliament, urged by a hun- 
dred different motives, were almost unanimous in their deter- 
mination to make the agents of the government answer for their 
conduct, and above all, the chief offender, Strafford. The noble 
ruinously fined in the Star Chamber ; the courtier of whom 
Strafford had used sharp words, as ' that the king would do well 
to cut off his head ;' the merchant, forced to pay illegal customs ; 
the patriot, indignant at the judges' verdict that Grievances, 
ship-money was a just and legal tax ; the Presby- delinquents, 
terian fined and insulted by the Court of High Commission, were 
all alike eager to gratify, as the case might be, their desires for 
reform, or justice, or revenge. 

The House proceeded to business at once. Votes were passed 
that all monopolists should be deprived of their seats (9th Nov.), 
that ship-money was against the laws of the realm (7th Dec.),* 
that all agents of the crown who had taken part in the collection 
of ship-money, or had shared in any other acts condemned by the 

* Lord Falkland felt and spoke strongly on the extra-judicial opinion the 
judges had given at Charles' request, on the king's right to ship-money. 
" No meal undigested," he said, "can lie heavier upon the stomach than that 
unsaid would have lain upon my conscience." He complained that the 
judges, " the persons who should have been as dogs to defend the flock, have 
become the wolves to devour it ;" that they had exceeded their functions, 
"being judges of law and not of necessity, that is, being judges and not philo- 
sophers or politicians;" that to justify the plea of necessity, they have "sup- 
posed mighty and eminent dangers in the most quiet and halcyon days, but a 
few contemptible pirates being our most formidable enemies ;" they also " sup- 
posing the supposed doings to be so sudden that it could not stay for a Parlia- 
ment which required but a forty days' stay, allowed to the king the sole power 
in necessity, the sole judgment of necessity, and by that enabled him to take 
from us what he would, when he would, and how he would." He especially de- 
claimed against the Chief Justice (at this time Lord Keeper) Finch, who impor- 



tuned the other judges " as a most admirable solicitor, but a most abominable 
judge." ..." He it was who gave away with his breath what our ancestors 
have purchased with so long expense of their time, their care, their treasures, 



and their bloods, and strove to make our grievances mortal and our slavery 
irreparable," . . . " he who hath already undone us by wholesale [and no-w- 
as chancellor] hath the power of undoing us by retail." — MSS. Clarendon 
Papers, No. 1464, and Eushworth. 

6-2 



84 STRAFFORD IMPEACHED. [long pael 

House, were l delinquents,' and might be proceeded against at 
any moment. This made offenders of all ranks tremble, lords of 
the Council and Star Chamber, lords-lieutenant of counties, 
sheriffs, judges, besides a host of inferior officers. It was not so 
much the intention of the Commons to proceed against all these 
delinquents, as to terrify them into submission. The chief crimi- 
nals alone had real cause to fear. 

Strafford* had seen the storm gathering and was anxious to 
return to Ireland, but Charles wrote him a positive 
trusts in command to come to London, assuring him, ' as he 
Charles. was jQ n g f England, he was able to secure him from 
any danger, and the Parliament should not touch one hair of his 
head/ The king was in fact afraid of meeting his enraged Par- 
liament unsupported. Accordingly Strafford came prepared with 
charges of treason against some of the leading members, for having 
. encouraged the Scots in rebellion. They were aware of his inten- 
tion and determined to strike first. No time was lost. Their 
feelings at this crisis are analyzed in Browning's lines : 

" Now, by Heaven, 
They may be cool who can, silent who will — 
Some have a gift that way ! Wentworth is here ; 
Here, and the king's safe closeted with him 
Ere this. And when I think on all that's past — 

how all this while 

That man has set himself to one dear task, 
The bringing Charles to relish more and more 
Power — power without law, power and blood too — 
Can I be still?" 

Strafford had only been one day in London when, on the 11th of 
November, Pym proposed in the House of Commons to 
ment of impeach of high treason the man who, " according to 
Strafford. ^.e nature of apostates, had become the greatest enemy 
to the liberties of his country, and the greatest promoter of 
tyranny that any age had produced." 

The process by impeachment has been described in Bucking- 
ham's case,t it is still more familiar to us from the trial of Warren 
Hastings in the following century (1788). The king having no 
part in an impeachment, and the House of Lords being judge, the 
only preliminary required is a resolution of the Commons to pro- 

* Wentworth created Earl of Strafford, 12 Jan. 1640. f See page 34. 



1640 .] STRAFFORD AND LAUD IN TOWER. 85 

secute The Commons now agreed to the proposal without a dis- 
senting voice, and Pym, followed by a train of three hundred 
members, went up straight to the Lords' house, and there accused 
the earl of high treason, desiring that he might be lodged a pri- 
soner in the Tower, until the time of his trial came on. 

Thus, at one blow, was the king deprived of his ablest adviser, 
and Strafford himself of the awe with which power had previously 
invested him. Strafford was in consultation with the king when 
the news came. Hastening to the Lords' house with a " proud, 
glooming countenance, he makes towards his place at the board- 
head But at once many bid him void the house. After con- 
sultation, being called in, he stands, but is commanded to kneel, 
and on his knees, is delivered to the keeper of the black stra fford 
rod, to be prisoner until he was cleared of those crimes ^J to 
the House of Commons had charged him with. As he 
passed through the gazing crowd outside to find his coach, nc 
man capped to him, before whom that morning the greatest of 
Euo-land would have stood discovered, all crying, 'What is the 
matter V He said, < A small matter, I warrant you.' They re- 
plied ' Yes, indeed, high treason is a small matter.' " 

The next month Laud was impeached too (18th Dec), and 
followed his friend to the Tower, amid the curses and other <de- 
howlings of the populace. Windebank, the king's »**""«* 
secretary, wise in time, jumped into an open boat, and, steering 
through the mist, succeeded in putting the Channel between him 
and his foes. Finch, though known as the first adviser of impos- 
ing ship-money on the inland counties, hoped much from the 
graceful defence he made before the Commons. But the temper 
of his hearers was too stern ; " There be birds," said one, that 
in the summer of Parliament will sing sweetly, that in winter 
turn into birds of prey !" The most he could effect was to be 
allowed, like others, to escape into exile. 

Judge Berkeley, the principal supporter of ship-money, was 
also a marked man. The messenger of the Lords entered West- 
minster Hall, while the courts of justice were sitting, and then 
and there carried him off to the Tower, impeached by the Com- 
mons of bicrh treason. The gazing crowd felt awe-struck, while 
Ahe consciences of some of Berkeley's brethren gave them uneasy 
qualms. 



86 TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. [lono pael. 

Reparation Hand in hand with justice went reparation. The 
to sufferers. p r i SO ii doors were opened to men shut up for five or 
eight or ten years, as the case might be. Chambers, the merchant, 
came out ruined ; Leighton, a minister, unable to walk or stand or 
see; Lilburne, with a tale to tell of starvation, irons, and the scourge. 
Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick came from their distant prisons in 
Jersey, Guernsey, and Scilly, to forget the shame of the pillory 
and the loss of their ears, in the triumph of the day when they 
were welcomed back to London by thousands of men and women 
decked with white rosemary and bay and tilling the air with 
their acclamations.* Large numbers of sufferers brought their 
cases before committees of Parliament, and had the satisfaction of 
hearing their sentences declared illegal, while many received 
compensation in money for their losses. 

But the event which above all others excited men's minds,, 
was the trial of Strafford. Until March, a committee of Par- 
liament was engaged in examining witnesses and preparing the 
case. The Scots joined in the prosecution, accusing Strafford of 
having been the cause of the war, and even the Irish, lately so 
submissive, now sent over charges against the deputy. On the 
22nd of March the trial began. In the cold spring morning, 
Scene of as early as five o'clock, crowds might be seen gathering 
t™^ about "Westminster. A stage was erected, reaching 

right across the end of the hall. Here sat the judges, the mem- 
bers of the House of Lords, about eighty in number, ' wearing- 
their red robes lined with white ermine/ The lawn of the 
bishops was not seen at trials for life. At one end of the stage- 
sat the committee of the Commons who conducted the impeach- 
ment, at the other Strafford's secretaries and counsel. Behind the- 
lords' seats was the empty throne ; the king and queen, though 
present, sat in a gallery concealed by curtains. On both sides of 
the hall, east and west, the forms rising one above another to tha 
roof were occupied by the members of the Commons, with the 
Scottish commissioners, and some favoured friends. Ladies paid 
high prices for seats in galleries, and diligently took notes of the 
proceedings. 

About eight Strafford was brought from the Tower by water. 
All were struck with his appearance. Clad in black, his coun- 

* May, Long Pari., 64; BaiMe,i. 222. 



1641 -j LAW OF HIGH TKEASON. 8" 

tenance pale through suffering, his body bent by illness, he bore 
himself with a proud humility, implying excess of courtesy and 
not defect of confidence. Having first bowed to the court,. he 
took his place in a small desk in front of his judges, where he 
stood or sat at pleasure. 

Precedents of harsh procedure too often return to plague the 
inventors. The difficulties put in the way of state criminals whom 
kings attacked, were now all cast in the way of Strafford, whose 
life the people were seeking. He had himself to examine wit- 
nesses brought against him, and to speak as to the course of 
truth of the facts of which he was accused. His coun- ^te taa 
sel were only allowed at the close of the trial to argue teenth cen- 
that the facts did not fall within the legal definition of • 
high treason. Though most of his witnesses were in Ireland he 
had not been allowed to summon them to attend, until three days 
before the trial. He did not know from day to day what charges 
would be brought against him, but after his accusers had spoken, 
was allowed half an hour to sit down with his secretaries and pre- 
pare his answer. The time given was not favourable for quiet 
thought. During these intervals the whole hall rose to its feet, 
judges, prosecutors, spectators, talking and laughing ; bread and 
meat were handed about, bottles of beer and wine went thick 
from mouth to mouth/ and all this in the king's eyes, who, in the 
excitement of the trial, with his own hands tore down the curtains 
in front of his gallery, and there sat visible to all, but as unre- 
garded as if he had not been present * 

Thus unaided for seventeen days, from eight in the morning 
until three or four in the afternoon, Strafford had to hear ana 
answer his accusers and their witnesses. 

The crime of high treason was defined by a statute La w of high 
of Edward III. (1351), to consist of seven offences. 
Five of these did not touch Strafford. The two ^der which he 
was prosecuted were those of 'levying war upon the krng 
and 'compa-ing the king's death/ Of ^^^^T 
seditions for high treason are the most unmteUigible to the 
ordinary mind. The interpretations of the judgeshad Forced^, 
extended the meaning of < levying war/ to mean any tejgjrt 
overt act which was considered objectionable ; that or 

* Baillie, i. 259, 265. 



88 TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. [long pabl. 

compassing or imagining the king's death/ to mean any objec- 
tionable purpose which was not carried into act. To understand 
this process it is necessary to recall the origin of the act, and the 
fact of the dependence of the judges upon the crown. The act 
was brought forward by the nobles as a safeguard to themselves, 
by denning more clearly in what treason consisted. They had 
found before that if the crown wished to confiscate their lands, it 
could make out anything to be treason ; but though they hoped 
much from a clearer definition, they gained little ; first, because the 
judges extended the meaning of the words of the law ; secondly, 
because untrustworthy evidence was admitted as to the facts. 
As an instance of the first, a rioter who had joined in an attack 
upon Laud's palace at Lambeth, was convicted of high treason 
Laxity of f or ' having levied war upon the king.' Of the second, 
evidence. g^, Walter Ealeigh's case may serve as an epitome.* 
The evidence on which he was convicted of having intrigued with 
Spanish emissaries to set Arabella Stuart on the throne, was the 
written accusation of one witness, who retracted, and then re- 
tracted his retractation, and was never confronted with the pri- 
soner. A correspondent of the time wrote of Ealeigh's trial thus : 
" The evidence was no more to be weighed than the barking of a 
dog. I would not for much have been of the jury to have found 
him guilty."f 

These forced interpretations of the judges and their laxity 
about evidence, were unjustifiable enough, but there was another 
process at work, of a perfectly legitimate character, which had 
enlarged the meaning of laws containing the king's name. In 
England the constitution has continually changed in fact, without 
changing in form, and the fictions of the constitutional lawyers have 
been the regular means by which, as liberty has advanced, new 
facts have been brought under old forms. It is on this principle, 
Ideal king of that from the doctrine of the irresponsibility of the king, 
ng snlaw. the constitutional lawyers have justly treated the name 
of king as meaning not the mere fallible being who wears the 
crown for the moment, but the true king who acts in accordance 
with the constitution he represents. The obvious plea, that Straf- 
ford had acted according to Charles' wishes and therefore could not 
have levied war upon the king, no lawyer would have thought of 
urging in the earl's defence. The king, the ideal king of English 
* See page 23. f Jardine : Criminal Trials. 



1641.1 TWO MAIN CHARGES. 89 

law, * can do no wrong,' and under all circumstances is the main- 
tainer of the rights and liberties of his subjects. Though illegal 
acts are done by a king's command, a court of justice is bound to set 
this fact aside, and regard them as committed contrary to his 
wishes. The minister, therefore, who attacks the liberties of the 
subject, is also in the eye of the law attacking the authority of 
the king. 

Yet the managers of the prosecution had a difficult task in try- 
ing to bring Strafford's acts within the definition of treason. As 
to the question of law, there were two main charges, which 
must be kept clearly distinct. The first and finally successful 
charge was the billeting of soldiers upon the people of , 
Ireland, in order to make them submit to illegal com- war upon 
mands, which was said to amount to ' levying war the kmg " 
upon the king,' as it was really reducing the country by conquest. 
It must be allowed that technically Strafford had broken the law, 
and that what he had done amounted to treason within the 
meaning of the statute. But his counsel could argue that like 
arbitrary acts of power had been committed by previous deputies, 
and that he had not committed the offence in a manner syste- 
matic enough to be found guilty upon a liberal interpretation of 
the law. 

The second and unsuccessful point was the ' compass- \ Compass- 
ing the death of the king,' which they interpreted as king's 
meaning an endeavour to subvert the laws of the death - 
realm represented by the king. This accusation rested on Straf- 
ford's having advised Charles in council to bring over the Irish 
army to reduce ' this kingdom,' meaning England, to subjection. 
They had to prove both the question of fact and the question of 
law. 

As to the facts, Strafford could point to a straining of evidence, 
and could show up some charges as absurd in themselves, others 
as breaking down in proof. The prosecutors could retort, they were 
sufficiently proved, the sufficiency being in the custom of the time, 
and the usage of the courts which Strafford had administered. 
The fact that was most stoutly contested was 'the advising 
Charles to use the Irish army to reduce this kingdom.' The 
witness to this was no less than Sir Henry Vane, the king's 
secretary. Strafford's answer was that ' this kingdom ' meant 
not England, but Scotland, which was then in rebellion, and he 



90 TEIAL OF STRAFFORD. [long pael. 

brought other members of the council to swear that they had no 
recollection of his advising Charles to use an army against English 
liberty. The importance which the Commons attached to the 
proof of this fact will be shown in the sequel. 
Cumulative As to the question of law, the Commons argued that it 
treason. j j^ not c i e p en( j on ^his single article, but that the whole 
of the charges, twenty-eight in all, mounted up to a sort of accumu~ 
lative treason, proving that Strafford had formed a scheme to sub- 
vert the laws of the realm, and govern by means of a standing army. 
This design of enforcing submission by means of an armed force 
was what moved the Commons most deeply. If that was not 
high treason, the constitution was a mockery indeed. If the law of 
high treason was to protect the sovereign power of the State, and if 
this sovereign power was not the king only, but the king acting 
through his Parliament, then to destroy Parliament was to destroy 
the vitality of the king. Was it ' compassing the king's death V 
Well, would it not have been the death of the constitution ? It 
would, no doubt, and should certainly have been included in a good 
law defining high treason against the State. But it was not. Pym 
felt this himself when he made the following grand rhetorical appeal 
to the earl's judges. " Shall it be treason to embase the king's coin, 
though but a piece of twelvepence or sixpence 1 ? and must it not 
needs be the effect of a greater treason to embase the spirit of his 
subjects, and to set up a stamp and character of servitude upon 
them, whereby they shall be disabled to do anything for the service 
of the king and the commonwealth?" The king can indeed have 
no interest but the good of his subjects, and Pym's view was here 
as ever that of the true constitutional statesman, but it lacked the 
support of precedents to commend it to judges. Strafford's plea of 
moderation on the other hand was easily met. "His moderation ! 
when you find so many imprisoned of the nobility ! so many men, 
some adjudged to death, some executed without law ! when you find 
so many public rapines on the state, soldiers sent to make good his 
decrees, so many whippings in defence of monopolies, so many gen- 
tlemen that were jurors, because they would not apply themselves 
to give verdicts on his side, to be fined in the Star Chamber, men 
of quality to be disgraced, set in the pillory, and wearing papers 
and such things — can you, my lords, think there was any modera- 
tion?" 

On the 10th of April, additional evidence, hitherto kept back,, 



1641. BILL OP ATTAINDER. 91 

was read in the House of Commons, in support of the charge of 
advising the king to use the Irish army against English liberty. 
Before the meeting of the present Parliament, young Sir Henry 
Vane had found in his father's despatch box some notes made in 
council of the very debate in which Strafford advised the king to 
use the Irish army to reduce 'this kingdom.' He had shown 
them to Pym, who had made a copy, now produced. Bill of 
The double evidence upon the same article was con- Attamder - 
sidered conclusive of Strafford's guilt, and Sir Arthur Haslerig 
proposed to proceed against him by Bill of Attainder,* in other 
words to vote him guilty by act of Parliament. The motive for 
this change in procedure was " to avoid delay, which was now of 
extreme dangerous consequence." The known faithlessness of 
the king, and the peril impending from it, justified much in- 
formality. When a prisoner's friends threaten violence, they 
can hardly complain if his foes quicken the slow processes of 
law. 

It has generally been supposed that this measure was brought 
in by the extreme patriots ; but a member's notes, made in Par- 
liament at the time, have revealed the fact that whereas it was 
warmly supported by the moderates, such as Hyde,t Falkland, 
Culpepper, and others, who took the Eoyalist side in the war ; it 
was opposed by both Pym and Hampden, who preferred to ask 
the Lords to give judgment on the trial by impeachment. They 
had a quiet confidence in the goodness of their ease, and were 
anxious to avoid even the appearance of differing from the Lords. 
However, on finding those who supported them were bent on the 
measure, they acquiesced, sharing, as they did, the universal con- 
viction that, if Strafford escaped with his life, the king would 
restore him to power. But others gave utterance to the criticism 
to which such measures are undoubtedly open. 

" I do not say," said the Royalist, Lord Digby, " but the charges may repre- 
sent him as a man worthy to die, and perhaps worthier than many a traitor. 

* Bills of Attainder were first introduced by Henry VIII. The last in- 
stance of the legislature's passing a Bill of Attainder, was in the case of Sir 
John Fenwick, in the reign of William III. See a remarkably clear state- 
ment of the character of such bills in Macaulay's Hist., c. 22 and 23. 

+ It is a significant fact that, among the Clarendon State Papers at Ox- 
ford, none are to be found relating to Strafford's trial. As there must have 
been such, it is presumed that Hyde destroyed them, wishing to conceal that 
he had acted on the popular side. His name is not in the list of ' Straffordiaus/ 



Q2 TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. [long pabl. 

I do not say but they may justly direct us to enact that they shall be treason for 
the future. But God keep me from giving judgment of death on any man upon 
a law made d posteriori. Let the mark be set on the door where the plague 
is, and then let him that will enter, die. I believe his practices in themselves 
as high, as tyrannical, as any subject ever ventured on ; and the malignity 
of them largely aggravated by those rare abilities of his, whereof God has 
given him the use, but the devil the application. In one word, I believe him 
to be still that grand apostate to the commonwealth, who must not expect 
to be pardoned in this world till he be despatched to the other. And yet let 
me tell you, Mr. Speaker, my hand must not be to that despatch." 

The bill, however, easily passed the Commons (21st April) ; 
only fifty-nine members voted against it, whose names were 
posted up in the streets of London, as i Straffordians, enemies to 
their country.' The trial by impeachment in Westminster Hall 
still continued. Strafford made a brilliant defence, in which he 
carefully turned the attention of his hearers away from the 
billeting or ' levying war upon the king/ the weak point of his 
case, to the weak point of the prosecution, the charge of ' com- 
passing the king's death.' The highway, which brought him to 
the Tower, furnished a simple illustration which seemed to de- 
molish their laboured construction. 

" My lords," he said, K I do not conceive that there is either stat- 
defence S u * e ^ aw ' or comm011 l aw > that hath declared this — endeavouring 
to subvert the fundamental laws — to be high treason. Jesu! my 
lords, where hath this fire lain all this while, so many hundred years together 
that no smoke should appear till it burst out now, to consume me and my 
children ? Hard it is, and extreme hard, in my opinion, that I should be 
punished by a law subsequent to the act done. ... If I pass down the 
Thames in a boat, and run and split myself upon an anchor, if there be not 
a buoy to give me warning, the party shall give me damages ; but if it be 
marked out, then it is at my own peril. Now, my lords, where is the mark 
set upon this crime ? where is the token by which I should discover ? if it be 
not marked, if it lie under water and not above, there is no human provi- 
dence can prevent the destruction of a man instantly and presently. My 
lords, I have troubled your lordships a great deal longer than I would have 
done ; were it not for the interest of those pledges, that a saint in heaven 
left me, I should be loath, my lords [here his weeping stopped him] — what I 
forfeit for myself is nothing ; but I confess that my indiscretion should for- 
feit for them, it wounds me very deeply ; you will be pleased to pardon my 
importunity, something I should have said, but I see I shall not be able, 
and therefore I will leave it. . . ."* 



* Nalson, ii. 123. 



1641.] KING PROPOSES A COMPROMISE. 93 

And then lifting up his hands and eyes, he said, * In te, 
Domine, coniido ne confundar in sternum.' Strafford's defence 
had laid bare the real principle at issue, as far as the court was 
concerned. A law has a relation to the innocent as well as to the 
guilty. If the law of high treason meant that those guilty of 
such and such crimes should die, it meant just as much that those 
not guilty of them should have their lives safe, as far as the 
crime of treason was concerned. Such stretching of a law might 
be as dangerous to the liberty of the subject as the offences with 
which Strafford was charged. For if the words, ' compassing the 
king's death ' should at one time be made to include a scheme of 
subverting the laws, they might, he argued, at another be made to 
include some other offence equally far from their literal meaning, 
and thus men's lives, finding no protection in the law, would lie at 
the mercy of any party in power. Strafford carried his judges 
with him in thus repelling the charge of compassing the king's 
death. Peers indeed had no wish to extend the responsibility of 
ministers too far. The prosecutors, however, felt that the exten- 
sion of this principle was the only security for their lives ; they 
considered that the simple meaning of the words could not 
be trusted as a complete exponent of the cases included, with- 
out implying a perfection of form in English law which did 
not exist, and that the gist of his argument was, that a male- 
factor who found a new way to break the principle of a law 
should get the benefit of his ability at the expense of their 
liberties, while, as to the possibility of future consequences from 
such straining of law, they felt that their chief fear in that respect 
was from Strafford himself. It had fallen to Pym to reply to the 
earl's defence. As he ended his speech, he caught the eye of his 
old friend earnestly fixed upon him : he faltered, turned over his 
papers, and, with difficulty recovering himself, asked their lord- 
ships to close the proceedings for the day. Strafford's friends, 
meanwhile, were not idle. The queen, fond of exercising power, 
and anxious to avert this blow to royalty, now exerted herself 
in his behalf. Torch in hand, she was nightly to be found 
holding conferences with popular lords, offering them, as she 
thought, all they could desire, if only they would save Strafford's 
life.* A compromise was proposed : Charles offered to opposition 
form a ministry out of the opposition leaders both in refu se office. 

* De Motteville, i. 



94 TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. [long parl. 

Lords and Commons ; the Earl of Bedford was to be treasurer ; 
St. John, a member of the Commons, had already been made 
solicitor-general ; places were to be found for the Earl of Essex ; 
for Hampden, Pym, Hollis, and others. The new ministry, on 
their side, were to allow Strafford to escape with his life, and to 
ward off any attack made against the bishops by the Presbyte- 
rians. The compromise, however, was never effected. Bedford 
died, Essex was not to be persuaded : " Stone dead," said the 
blunt, plain-spoken earl, " hath no fellow ;* if he be fined or 
imprisoned, the king will grant him his pardon as soon as the 
Parliament is ended." Pym and Hampden were not less far- 
sighted than Essex, and had even better reasons for distrusting 
any advances from the king. 

The Scottish and English armies were still in the 
northern counties, awaiting the ratification of the 
treaty, after which the one was to be disbanded and the other to 
return to Scotland. The Parliament, looking upon the Scots as 
friends, who would, in case of need, render assistance against the 
king, had voted them £300,000 as a free gift. But the English 
army had no love for the Parliament, which had no wish to do 
anything for them. The soldiers had become discontented be- 
cause their pay was in arrear, while of the officers, many were 
Catholics, almost all devoted partizans of the king. Ill-feeling 
towards the Parliament was so general, that some of the leading 
officers in London ventured on talking over with the queen an 
ill-matured plan of bringing up the army to coerce the Parlia- 
ment. Charles gave his assent, though at the very time he was 
negotiating with the leaders of the Parliament. Naturally he 
would sooner have seen Hampden, Pym, and Essex changing 
places with Strafford and Laud in the Tower, than have had 
them sitting by his side in the council chamber. Still, such a 
double-dealing game was a hazardous one to play, and Pjth was 
not an easy man to overreach : he had his spies abroad to tell 
him the tavern discourse of too sanguine officers ; he had his 
friends even in the court circle ; in fact, the whole plan had been 
betrayed by Lord Goring, one of the conspirators, and Pym was 
only holding back his knowledge from the Parliament until he 
should find the fittest moment for revealing it. While these 

* Clar. Hist., i. 395. 



1641.] ARMY PLOT REVEALED. 95 

negotiations and army plots were going on behind the scenes, the 
nation still had its attention fixed on the Bill of Attainder, which 
did not easily make its way through the Lords. Charles tried 
to intimidate by threatening to refuse his assent. He summoned 
the two Houses, and told them that he did not consider the earl 
fit to serve him even in the position of a constable, but that no fear, 
no respect whatsoever should make him act against his conscience 
in consenting to his death (1st May). But if the king threatened 
on the one side, the people threatened on the other. The next 
day was Sunday; the London pulpits preached the duty of 
justice upon a great delinquent. By the Monday London was 
roused ; some thousands of apprentices and others, armed with 
swords and cudgels, gathered around Westminster Hall, crying, 
' Justice on Strafford, justice on traitors/ and demanding from 
every lord as he went into the house, 'that they might have 
speedy execution on the earl, or they were all undone, their 
wives and children.' The Lords, dismayed at their violence, spoke 
them fair, and sent word to the Commons to demand aid in 
suppressing the tumult. But the messenger could gain no ad- 
mittance; the doors of the Commons' house had been locked since 
seven o'clock in the morning, and remained locked until eight 
o'clock that evening. Within, fear, horror, and amazement sat 
on the faces of the members, for Pym was revealing to them, not 
only that grand idea of bringing up the army to crush the Par- 
liament, but various other desperate designs formed by the friends 
of Strafford ; how there was a plan of sending a hundred picked 
men into the Tower, where Strafford was confined, under the 
name of a guard ; how bribery had been attempted on the 
governor to let his prisoner escape : how, lastly, there was 
some dark design of bringing over a French force into Ports- 
mouth. 

A protestation was drawn up on Pym's motion, to defend the 
privileges of Parliament and the lawful rights of the people, and 
signed by every member present. Hyde, who had written his 
name second on the list, took it up to the Lords himself to receive 
their signatures.* Great was the panic in London when the doors 
of the Commons were unbarred. To think of an army led by 
Boyalist and Papist officers, marching into their city, the strong- 

* Eorster : Lives of British Statesmen, iii. 185. Grand Remonstrance. 



93 TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. [long pakl. 

hold of Presbyterian faith ! Eumours of plots, true and false, 
were in every man's mouth, and easily found credence. The 
Lords began to think their own lives in danger from the populace, 
if they delayed the trial any longer. Having already voted the 
facts of some of the articles of impeachment proved, they now 
appealed to the judges on the question of law. The judges unani- 
mously declared ' that upon all their lordships had voted to be 
proved, the earl was guilty of high treason.' On this the Lords 
passed the Bill of Attainder, voting the earl guilty, not 
Bm of paSS upon all the articles, but only upon the fifteenth, the 
Attainder, quartering of troops upon the people of Ireland, and 
the nineteenth, the imposing an unlawful oath upon the Scots in 
Ireland. In voting on the bill, it is important to observe, that 
they acted as nearly as possible as if they had been giving judg- 
ment on the impeachment, for they used the forms in which they 
were accustomed to vote as judges, not as legislators.* Thirty- 
four lords stayed away ; twenty-six voted for the bill, nineteen 
against it (7th May). 

Strafford's warning that the precedent of the case might be 
used against others no doubt had weight with many who had 
supported the king in unconstitutional acts, but these only suc- 
ceeded in protecting themselves so far as to insert a clause in the 
bill, to the effect that the judges should count nothing as treason 
in consequence of this bill which was not treason before. As the 
judges had pronounced the acts were treason, the clause was un- 
meaning. But now Charles' turn was come. If he had in him 
the courage to resist, if not to resent, intimidation, in these des- 
perate circumstances he had still the opportunity of securing one 
of two triumphs, either of saving the life of the earl, or of throw- 
ing on Parliament the reproach of executing him against law, 
for that he possessed the legal right to refuse his consent to any 
bill was at that time undisputed. It might have been thought, 
therefore, that the king would have been glad of the substitution 

* The difference between voting on a Bill of Attainder and an impeachment 
is, that in giving judgment on the latter a peer professed to be bound by the 
letter of the law and of the rules of evidence; in voting for the former, though 
bound by the spirit, he professedly held himself emancipated from the letter. 
Further, there was a great difference in form. Iu voting for a bdl a peer 
says 'aye' in his seat, and if a division is called, walks in silence past the 
teller of his side ; in voting on an impeachment each peer stands up in Lis 
place, puts his hand on his breast, and says, ' Guilty (or not) on my honour.' 



1641.] TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. 97 

of the bill for the impeachment, since the change gave him an 
opportunity of making good his promises to Strafford. But 
these were not Charles' feelings. His chief misery lay not in 
the fact that Strafford must die, but that his own hand must 
consent to his death. The angry rabble followed „, , 
him to Whitehall, with their shouts of " justice, jus- passes Bill of 
tice, we will have justice." The queen wept bit- Attaillder - 
"terly, in fear, it seems, for her own safety, as she began to make 
preparations to leave the country. In anguish of soul Charles 
asked his councillors how the rioters were to be suppressed ; 
they bade him please his Parliament and pass the Bill of Attain- 
der : he asked five bishops how he was to remove his scruples 
of conscience ; all but one told him he had both a public and a 
private conscience, and that the duty of saving the life of a friend 
or servant was as nothing compared with that of preserving his 
kingdom. The same day a letter was handed him from the earl 
bidding him pass the bill — " Sire, my consent shall more acquit 
you herein to God than all the world can do besides ; to a will- 
ing man there is no injury done." 

"My Lord of Strafford's condition," said Charles, "is more 
happy than mine."* He shed tears, but sent a commission for 
others to sign the bill, a mode of relieving his conscience suggested 
to him by his council. ' Put not your trust in princes, nor in the 
sons of men, for in them there is no salvation,' Strafford ex- 
claimed when told that the king had consented to his death. 
After passing the bill, Charles sent a letter to the House of Lords 
by the hands of the Prince of Wales, requesting the Parliament 
to commute the punishment of death into that of perpetual im- 
prisonment; the letter, however, had a postscript: 'If he must 
die, it were charity to reprieve him till Saturday.' But the 
discovery of the plot for Strafford's release had made longer im- 
prisonment impossible, and the House ordered the execution for 
the next day (12th May). 

In forming a judgment on the justice of the conviction upon 
which Strafford suffered, we must recall the various Question of 
points— that the lawyers and judges in serving the straff owl's 
interests of the crown, had really enlarged the statute ; conviction, 
'that undoubtedly the earl had technically offended against the 

* Radcliffe's Life in Straff. Despatches. 



98 TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. [long pabl. 

law, by quartering troops to coerce the people ; that the Com- 
mons heard the points of law argued at length in their house, 
and decided that his acts fell within the provision of the statute, 
before they passed the third reading of the bill ; that after this the 
judges declared that the facts voted to be proved amounted to high 
treason by law ; that the Lords, by voting judicially upon the 
bill, were acting as supreme judges when they also declared that 
in their view the offences came within the statute ; and lastly, 
that proceeding by bill only gave the king a chance of exercising 
his prerogative of mercy, which he would not otherwise have had. 
Briefly put, the case would amount to this, that the judicial compe- 
tence of the House of Lords was unquestioned, but in this case 
Strafford's peers, acting simply as a jury, declared certain facts 
proved, the judges of the land declared the law on these facts 
against him, and the peers then pronounced the verdict ; and 
though the fact that the conviction itself was on small and tech- 
nical grounds might well be pleaded as an extenuating circum- 
stance to reprieve him from the full punishment of death, yet 
his own conduct towards others deprived him of any such claim 
to exceptional mercy. It has hardly been sufficiently observed 
that, whatever the contemplated object of the bill, its actual effect 
was not to enlarge the statute retrospectively, but only to alter 
the procedure. If we apply the standard of the nineteenth cen- 
tury to judge of the procedure of the seventeenth, we shall say 
that this conviction of treason was not just, though it was far 
more just than any other of that day. 

So far as to the technical issue. At the bar of history, Strafford 
is arraigned as a traitor to the constitution. He is proved guilty 
by the undoubted evidence of his own correspondence. The two 
restraints on the executive are, the freedom of Parliament and 
the independence of the judges. According to Strafford's scheme, 
judges were to receive percentages on verdicts for the crown, and 
dismissal for verdicts against it. Parliament was only to vote 
subsidies, and not inquire into grievances. Discontent at griev- 
ances unredressed was to be quelled by a standing army. This 
standing army was to be supported by taxes levied, like ship- 
money, on the sole authority of the crown. If we turn now to 
Pym's ideal, since realized, and look upon this picture and on that, 
we shall with Hallam 'distrust any one's attachment to the English 
constitution, who reveres the name of the Earl of Strafford.' 



CHAPTEE V. 

GRAND REMONSTRANCE. — IMPEACHMENT OP FIVE MEMBERS. 
1641—1642. 

* * It is not so, thou hast misspoke, misheard ; 

Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again : 

It cannot be ; thou dost but say 'tis so : 

I trust I may not trust thee ; for thy word 

Is but the vain breath of a common man : 

Believe me, I do not believe thee, man ; 

I have a king's oath to the contrary. — KlNG JOHN, iii. 1. 

DURING Strafford's trial, the Commons had not been unmindful 
of reform. Early in the year Charles had given his consent to a 
bill which required that a Parliament should be elected once 
every three years, and that no future Parliament should be dis- 
solved or adjourned, without its own consent, in less than fifty 
days from the opening of the session (16th Feb.). In order 
that the act might not remain a dead letter, it provided that if 
the Idug failed in his duty, various officers employed in the 
Government should send out writs for elections in his stead ; and 
that if these failed in their duty, the electors should meet of them- 
selves and choose their representatives. 

The too long continuance of the same Parliament changes the 
character of the House of Commons from that of a popular 
assembly to that of an oligarchical senate, by making the members 
heedless of the wishes of their constituents, and apt to sacrifice 
their duties to their interests. The too frequent election of new 
Parliaments renders members subservient to their electors, so that 
instead of following some settled course of action according to 
their own convictions, they act merely as delegates apt to reflect 
every prejudice that obtains amongst the multitude. There is no 
universal rule of right in this matter. In the seventeenth century, 
new Parliaments might, without injuryto their character, have been 
elected every year, so slight was the control constituents possessed 
over their representatives. The House of Commons was subject 

7-2 



100 AN INDISSOLUBLE PAKLIAMENT. [long PAUL, 

to the influence of the court ; the county members were gentle- 
men by birth, often connected by blood or marriage with peers and 
ministers ; while the members for small boroughs were returned 
according to the directions of neighbouring peers and gentlemen. 
No public meetings were held for the debate of political questions. 
No petitions of a political character had been presented to any 
previous Parliament. No newspaper press existed before the com- 
mencement of the civil war. The votes of members were un- 
recorded. Parliamentary debates were never published. The 
privilege of excluding strangers from the House was constantly 
exerted by the Commons. London, however, in stirring times, 
knew much and judged freely ; but at duller periods there was a 
want of the coffee-houses of a later date to bring public opinion 
to a focus. The knowledge of events in London took months in 
circulating through the country. The action, therefore, of a 
Triennial Bill would have been beneficial in itself, and the expe- 
rience of the last eleven years had shown the absolute necessity of 
a guarantee for the meeting of Parliaments. The measure which 
followed was of a different character. 

At the same time that he gave his consent to the Bill of At- 
tainder, Charles, sick at heart, without heeding its contents, passed 
Parliament a second bill, depriving him of the right to dissolve the 
Sss n oivc b d Parliament without its own consent (10th May). This 
without its i^vi had been introduced into the Commons upon the 
S. C ° n " disclosure of the Army Plot, which gave Pym and 
Hampden good cause to doubt, whether their own lives or the 
liberties of the people would be safe, were the Parliament once 

dissolved. . _ 

If too long Parliaments become oligarchical, much more will a 
Parliament which is indissoluble. It may now, in fact, 
Sembly be taken as an axiom that a Parliament which can only 
nSbeS" dissolve of its own consent, will never dissolve unless 
solved, forced to do so by some power external to itself. 
Either it is in accordance with the popular feeling, in which case 
there is no reason it should dissolve as it is still representative ; 
or, again, if the pulse of popular opinion beats feebly, it feels it can 
go on governing as it likes ; or, lastly, public opinion is strongly 
against it, and under these circumstances it feels that dissolution 
is suicide, so it is then most determined to ride over the storm 
and wait for a time when sympathy is restored. But in a moment 
of terror like this such far-sighted calculations would have seemed 



1641.] EEFOEM IN LAW AND CHURCH. 101 

but mistrust of the patriotism of fellow-members.* It is not the 
only occasion on which the disregard of future dangers, induced 
by the terrors of the present, has brought countries into a consti- 
tutional dead-lock. 

Statutes were passed to abolish those great engines of tyranny, 
the courts of Star Chamber, of High Commission, and „, , 

IllC°*cll 

of the North, and deprive the king's council of all juris- courts 
diction, criminal or civil, and of the power of imprison- abollshed - 
ing without showing legal causef (July) ; as also to prevent the 
recurrence of what was practically confiscation, by fixing the 
extent of the royal forests ; and, lastly, to declare the illegality of 
all customs levied without consent of Parliament. 

In the Church, reform was also carried on. The Reform in 
times were likened to ' a little Doomsday ;' ministers churcl1 - 
who frequented taverns instead of teaching and preaching, those 
who burned three hundred wax candles in honour of our Lady, 
who called the communion table, altar, who taught the people 
that all they had belonged to the king, or in other ways had 
the character of being popishly or slavishly inclined, were now 
all alike turned out of their livings, fined, and imprisoned. 

All over the country the Presbyterians and sectarians rose 
again to the surface. The Presbyterians looked for- p res bytcri- 
ward to overthrowing the Episcopal Church; the aspira- a n s and In- 
tions of the sectarians, or Independents, as they were 
often called, from the name of their most influential sect, looked 
rather to securing liberty to worship as they pleased. Men who 
had lain hid in corners, or migrated to New England, re-appeared 
to spread their special doctrines. Conventicles were filled, preach- 
ings held, by the poorest of the people. No wonder, it was said, 
" that chandlers, salters, and such like preached, when the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, instead of preaching, had busied himself in 
projects about leather, salt, soap, and the like. They had but 
reciprocally invaded each other's calling."^ Nevertheless there 

* According to an act passed in the first year of George I. (1717), Parlia- 
ments now sit for seven years, unless previously dissolved by the crown. 

f The statute abolishing the arbitrary courts contained a clause, that any 
person imprisoned by the command or warrant of the king, or any of his 
council, should be entitled to a writ of Habeas Corpus from the Courts of 
King's Bench or Common Pleas, without delay on any pretence whatsoever. 
—See p. 16.) 

% May, L. P., 75. 



102 QUESTION OF EPISCOPACY. [long pael. 

were numbers both in the Parliament and the country unwilling 
to see strange forms of Church government, free preaching, and the 
Episcopaii- growth of schism uncontrolled by the authority of 
political re- tne bishops. Hence when religious matters were de- 
formers, bated, the House was far from being at unity. ' Let 
us keep the Church as it is/ said Hyde and his Church party. 
' Let us allow bishops to keep their office, but shut them out of 
all share in State government, and lessen their power over the 
clergy/ said Pym and Hampden and the political reformers. 
'Let us bring them down, root and branch/ said a third, the 
Different Presbyterians. The Independents joined their votes 
religious to the Presbyterians, for although they did not wish 
the Presbyterian Church to be established by law, they 
knew there was little hope of escaping persecution, until the old 
rule of Episcopacy was overthrown. " I can tell you, sir, what I 
would not have, though I cannot tell you what I would," said 
Cromwell, their leader, one day when pressed to declare his views.* 
The country was as divided in its wishes as the House. The 
abolition of Episcopal government was demanded by a petition of 
15,000 Londoners (11th Dec, 1640), its maintenance by nineteen 
petitions from different counties. 

After the discovery of the Army Plot, the force of the Presby- 
terians in the Commons was much increased, for Pym and Hamp- 
den, with the political reformers, though not ill disposed to the 
Church, found it necessary to form an alliance with the Presbyteri- 
ans. Hence for the present, in religious or political questions alike, 
these two sections voted as one. The results of this powerful coa- 
lition were soon shown in the introduction into the Lower House of 
a bill called the ' Eoot and Branch Bill/ which required, not simply 
' Eoot and ^ that the clergy should be deprived of all civil power, and 
thrown out. the bishops consequently of their seats in the House of 
Lords, as one did that had already passed the Commons (1st 
May), but that the very order of bishops should be abolished, 
their titles, their power over the clergy, their revenues, all taken 
from them (27th May). On this parties plainly declared them- 
selves, and the previous unanimity gave way to a fierce division, 
which crushed the bill. Men such as Hyde and Falkland drew 
back from further change whether in Church or State. The work 
of reform and justice, they argued, had now been completed ; 
* Warwick, Memoirs, 177. 



1641 ., EOYALISTS DEAW APAKT. 103 

Strafford had paid the foil penalty of Wj fS£ 
Laud was in the Tower, a prisoner tor life , othei *orm«L 
clrits had been punished by fine, imprisonment or banish- 
ment; to ensure liberty, new statutes had been made, and I the 
illegal courts abolished. If more was demanded of the km 
the* Commons would be trespassing on h* p- Mng* and 
altering the ancient form of government as it had existed _More 
Charles' first encroached on the liberties of the people. On the 
other hand to Pym, Hampden, and their followers the r^ 
Army Plot, and other intrigues in Strafford s behalf 

• • ~-p~ +i-,of Phqrlp^ was not to be tinsteci. 

ZZ"Z d^to C mS bills, how had he given 
"1": 1 His deep reluctance was not subdued it was on y 
Kdineita time till he could use force to recover what he had 
lost" Even now the queen was talking of going to Spa nomi- 
:ly to recover her health, really to try and gam some foreign 
aid to help her husband in crushing the Parliament ; Charles, ot 
tturncv to Scotland, no doubt to strengthen his party there, and 
ZT to foster the discontent of the English army he would 
Z through. And what then? So old friends parted com- 
,P T„ The mrtv of Hyde and Falkland, now become royalist, 
r/t'onlwa^ tiat ofpymand Hampden, foUowed by all the 
Presbvterians and Independents, another. 

Clilrles, on his way to Scotland, visited the English army, at 
the time disbanding (Aug.), and readily obtained promises of 
assistance from Papist officers and soldiers of for- *,« 
tune But his opponents were generals enough to 
have organized their intelligence department well : they num- 
bered friends among the king's friends, and one wrote to the 
Earl of Essex, that strange attempts had been made to pervert 

^iSintoTad, Charles granted the Scottish Parliament 
the establishment of the Presbyterian Church and tnennial 
Parliaments, and bestowed honours and pensions upon the lead- 
L Covenanters, hoping by such means to win the favour of 
nobles and people, and prevent them from befriending g^ 
his enemies in England. At the same time he sought **- _ 
to obtain proofs against the leaders of the Parliament of having 
been in communication with the Covenanters in 1640, and or 
*hese he intended impeaching them of high treason on his return. 



104 IRISH REBELLION. jlong pare, 

"I believe after all be done," he wrote to his secretary, who 
reported Pym's apparent cheerfulness, " that they will not have 
such great cause of joy." While his conduct, narrowly scanned 
as it was, was making Parliament more and more doubtful of his 
good faith, an act fell out that cast upon him the suspicion of 
all his Protestant subjects. On the 1st November, the Commons, 
holding their breaths through horror, heard that on the 23rd of 
Irish October, the Irish of Ulster had risen in arms, and 

Rebellion, nearly surprised Dublin, and all over their own pro- 
vince were driving the Scotch and English from their homes with 
robbery, plunder, murder, while they displayed a commission, 
stamped, as they said, with the king's great seal, authorizing 
them to take up arms. Every week with fresh despatches the 
tale increased in horror. Ulster was the province where the 
settlers were most thickly planted, but the rebellion and its atten- 
dant massacre spread fast from county to county, from province 
to province. The scattered remains of Strafford's army, still 
some 3000 in number, joined the insurgents, the ' degenerate 
English/ also Papists, uniting with the Irish. It was a fearful 
time, a whole people in rebellion to avenge years of oppression 
and wrong, a people, moreover, brutal through ignorance, burning 
with fanaticism. Heartrending were the accounts that came to 
England, how men, women, and children were mercilessly 
butchered ; how people of all conditions, spoiled and stripped, 
with only rags for coverings, some wounded to death, others 
frozen with cold, came crowding into Dublin, now almost their 
only asylum, until barns, stables, and outhouses were over-filled 
with dying wretches ; how the Irish boldly declared their pur- 
pose to extirpate English Protestants, and not to lay down arms 
until the Romish religion was established, the government 
settled in the hands of natives, and the Irish restored to the 
lands of their ancestors.* 

King and Though Charles declared that the commission pub- 

pecteVo?" listed in his name was a forgery, and offered to commit 
complicity the care of the war entirely to the Parliament, he did 
not succeed in counteracting the prevailing and persis- 
tent opinion that both he and the queen had been concerned in 
the rebellion. 

* Lingard, vii. 283, from Nalson. 



1641.] GEAND EEMONSTEANCE. 105 

History has revealed that there was grave cause of suspicion. 
Charles, when the Parliament had insisted on his disbanding 
Strafford's army, had sent private instructions to the Earl of 
Antrim, in Ireland, to get the same forces together again, and 
to engage the lords of the Pale to seize possession of Dublin 
castle, and declare for himself against the English Parliament. 
But it is ill playing with edged tools. The native Irish, who had 
planned an insurrection on their own account, possibly with the 
knowledge and consent of the queen,* seized the occasion to wreak 
vengeance for the seizure of their lands, and rising before the 
English Catholics were ready to join them, began the rebellion 
with the inhuman massacre of the Protestant settlers, f The king 
seems now to have cherished the strangely mistaken idea that the 
horrors of the rebellion might make his English subjects more in- 
clined to support his own authority. " I hope," he wrote to his 
secretary, "this ill news in Ireland will hinder some of these 
follies in England." 

It had, of course, quite the opposite effect. Before Grand Re- 
Charles returned from Scotland, Pym and Hampden monstrance, 
caused a Kemonstrance to be drawn up, which it was intended 
afterwards to print and disperse thi oughout the country. This 
Remonstrance began by indicting the king's government for all its 
past errors, the voyage to Cadiz, the loss of Eochelle, the long im- 
prisonments and cruel sentences of the Star Chamber, and the 
death of one whose "blood still cries for vengeance, or repentance 
of those ministers of State who at once obstructed the course both 
of his Majesty's justice and mercy."£ Next followed a statement 
of the reforms effected by the Parliament, the abolition of the 
illegal courts, the beneficial laws passed, the justice meted to evil 
councillors. After this came a complaint against the enemies of 
the Parliament, who had tampered with the army, and whose " de- 
signs defeated in England and Scotland, had succeeded in Ire- 
land," and this led up to the final demand that for the future the 
king should select councillors in whom Parliament could confide. 
To understand the motives which led a body of country gentle- 

* The suspicion against the queen was revived at the Eestoration by the ex- 
traordinary exertions she then made to procure for Antrim the restoration of 
the estates forfeited by his treasonable belp to Cromwell. It was supposed ho 
knew some dark secret ; and the only other motive her apologist suggests was 
certainly inadequate. See Carte's Ormond, 277 — 293. 

t Godwin, ii. J See p. 58. 



106 GRAND REMONSTRANCE. [long pael : 

men to propose what was in fact the first step to a revolution, we 
must imagine ourselves environed with the dangers that they 
saw around them on every side. 

In England, Pyni's life had been attempted, not only by a loath- 
some attempt to inoculate him with the plague, but in Westminster 
Hall another man had been stabbed by mistake for him. From 
Scotland accounts came of a plot to assassinate both Hamilton and 
Argyle ; there were suspicions, which history has confirmed, that 
the would-be murderer was Montrose. The popular leaders had 
strong reasons for believing that there was a second Army Plot 
brewing in Scotland, by which Parliament was to be crushed. 
Meantime, within the House the union which had \ been strength 
was gone ; the Lords were inclined to retrace their steps ; in the 
Commons, the longer Parliament lasted the more court influence 
increased. The secession of Hyde had carried with it even Falk- 
land, though noted as a lover of justice, and of Parliament as the 
fountain of justice. Outside there was one of the reactions which 
ensue on revolutionary legislation, however salutary. The weak 
are alarmed ; the violent remain dissatisfied ; while the masses, 
on finding their wild and unreasonable hopes have met with an 
inevitable disappointment, are apt to echo the cries of the privi- 
leged classes who resent or dread interference. The people in 
such a mood will sacrifice their friends, and let slip all they have 
gained, unless some leader appears to restore confidence by show- 
ing clearly what is yet to be done, and how. The Eemonstrance 
was Pym's manifesto. In its pages the good of government by 
Parliament was contrasted with the well-known evils of govern- 
ment by Prerogative ; the remedy was shown ; the old method of 
electing the king's council must give way to a new and more con- 
stitutional one ; and the country must be governed by ministers 
in whom the Parliament had confidence, whether the king had 
confidence in them or not. After a debate which lasted for more 
than fifteen hours, the House divided on the question whether the 
Eemonstrance should be passed. It was passed. The yeas num- 
bered 159, the noes 148. Whereupon a member moved that it 
should be printed at once. To print it was to appeal from the 
king to the people. Hyde and Colepepper said, if the motion were 
persisted in, they should ask leave to enter their protest in the 
journals of the House, a custom occasionally adopted in the 
Upper House, but unknown in the Lower. Pym and Hollis re- 



1641.] GRAND REMONSTRANCE. 107 

f erred to the usage of the House. An opponent then, putting aside 
the question of leave, called out that he did then and there protest 
for himself and for all the rest of his party. ' All ! all !' shouted 
the enemies of the Remonstrance, waving their hats over their 
heads and snatching their swords from their belts. In the passion 
of the moment, blood might have been shed within the walls of 
the Commons' House itself, had not Hampden, ever ready, calmed 
the turbulent spirits by a few well-timed words. Debates were 
then by day and not by night, but though no final vote was 
taken, it was not until two o'clock in the morning that the wearied 
members, depressed or elated by that majority of eleven, left their 
gloomy chamber for their homes* (Nov. 22). 

So far the political reformers had gained a victory, but they 
were still far from carrying the whole sense of the House or the 
nation with them. Even in London, among the wealthier citizens 
a royalist party appeared, and celebrated the king's Royalist 
return from Scotland by a great demonstration. A W*?- 
royalist Lord Mayor was elected, who, attended by the city alder- 
men in their scarlet robes, by troops of horsemen, by gentlemen 
richly clad in velvet coats and chains of gold, went out to meet 
the king and queen, and entertained them royally in the city. 

Charles, elated by the rise of a royalist party, and with the 
lightly-given promises of Scotch nobles and army officers fresh 
in his mind, felt confident that he should yet be able to get 
the better of his enemies in the Parliament. But his acts gave 
warning of danger. A proclamation for the enforcement of laws 
against Puritans was published ; the trainband that formed the 
guard of the two Houses, was dismissed by his orders ; Balfour, a 
friend of the Parliament, was removed from the command of the 
Tower ; and Lunsford, a cavalier of bad reputation, appointed 
in his place (22nd Dec). On the news of this appointment, 
tumults arose in the city, where there was already excitement 
enough to warn Charles that his friends were not so many as he 
thought. But though he consented to cancel it within twenty- 
four hours at the representation of his friend the Lord Mayor, he 
could not allay the suspicion to which such peculiar measures had 
given rise. 

The Remonstrance, printed by order of the House (15th Dec), was 

* Forster's Grand Remonstrance ; Warwick's Mem 



108 BISHOPS' EXCLUSION BILL. [long pari* 

already in the hands of the citizens. Reports were abroad that a 
charge of treason was intended against some members of Parlia- 
Biiifor ment. At this critical time, a bill to deprive the 

bMiopsofc bishops of their seats in the House of Lords, was 
seats. rejected for the second time, owing, as was said, to the 

opposition of papist peers. It was the Christmas holidays ; and 
apprentices, watermen, workmen, crowds of all sorts, came flood- 
ing out of the city to Westminster, threatening the lords opposed 
to the bill, and insulting the bishops. 

Meanwhile, there had gathered round Charles at Whitehall, 
officers from the late disbanded army, young students from the 
inns of court, gentlemen from the country, eager for a fight with 
the Parliament. " What !" said one, in actual hearing of some 
members, " shall we suffer these base fellows at Westminster to 
domineer thus 1 Let us go into the country and bring up our 
tenants to pull them out?"* These reckless men, spreading 
themselves between Whitehall and Westminster, soon drew 
their swords upon the citizens, who were often armed only with 
clubs. In Westminster Hall, in Westminster Abbey, frays 
took place ; citizens were wounded, and a knight, who supported 
the Parliament, was slain. The names of Roundheads and Cava- 
Frays be- ^ ers were now ^ rs ^ heard, bandied as epithets of re- 
fcween J Ca- proach. The spiritual peers, as the cause of the 
'Round- quarrel, suffered most from the insolence of the mob ; 
heads.' one j a y ^ e Archbishop of York nearly had his robes 

torn off his back; on another, in real or pretended fear, the bishops 
slipped out of the House by back ways, or went home in the 
coaches of the popular lords. 

After this last adventure, eleven bishops, following the lead of 
Protest of Williams, Archbishop of York, who, as some think, 
bishops. liacl arranged the whole matter with Charles, drew up 
a protestation declaring that all that should be done during their 
compelled absence from the Parliament was null and void- The 
protestation was presented to the king, who ordered it without 
delay to be read to the Lords (30th Dec.) fancying that now any 
bill passed by them during the bishops' absence would be recog- 
nized as void in law. The Lords, deeply offended at the conduct 
of the absentees, sent the protestation down to the Commous, who 

* Ludlow, i. 19. 



16*1-3.1 PEOTEST OF BISHOPS. 109 

immediately impeached the bishops of high treason, for endeavour- 
ing to subvert the fundamental laws of the realm (30th Bishops 
Dec). The violence offered in no case seems to have been impeached. 
great, in fact three prelates still continued to frequent the House ; 
and, if a bishop had met with injuries while attending his post in 
the House of Lords, the question might have entered the minds 
of those not unfriendly to the Parliament, whether, after all, the 
tyranny of a king was not more tolerable than the tyranny of 
a mob. But, at the very time when his friends might have won 
golden opinions as the victims of violence, he laid himself open 
to the suspicion of double dealing. Straws show which way the 
wind blows ; and his message only made the House think that he 
intended hereafter to declare acts of Parliament null and void, be- 
cause the bishops had been too timid to face the menaces of a crowd. 
The suspicion in Pym's mind was not removed by a secret offer 
now made him of the chancellorship of the exchequer. At a pre- 
vious crisis, such an offer had tempted one of the ablest pym re f U scs 
leaders of the opposition to forsake the principles he office - 
professed. But Pym was not Strafford. The Eemonstrance was 
not a bid for office, but a demand for a constitutional ministry. 
This demand could be satisfied not by a secret concession to one 
of its subscribers, but by the public resignation of a point of pre- 
rogative. The secrecy was itself a proof that there was no con- 
cession of the principle. Failing Pym, Charles sought new 
ministers out of the party of his friends. 

Lord Falkland, with reluctance, became secretary of Falkland 
state. "I choose to serve the king," he said to his peppe^take 
friend Hyde, " because honesty obliges me to it, but I office - 
foresee my own ruin." Charles, who had made him his minister 
only because of his influence in the Parliament, felt no gratitude; 
a man who objected to the opening of letters, or the employment 
of spies, was of little use for the measures he contemplated. Sir 
John Colepepper, another member belonging to the same party, 
was made chancellor of the exchequer (1st Jan., 1642). Hyde 
refused office, only to serve the king's interests in the House with 
less suspicion of his honesty. Charles, however, had framed his 
policy before he appointed bis ministers ; for he now determined 
on carrying into execution a deep-laid plot, which he had been 
discussing with the queen and his confidants ever since he went 
to Scotland. Among patriots, vague rumours of impending danger 



110 FIVE MEMBERS IMPEACHED. [lono pari, 

thickened. The Commons, growing more and more suspicious, 
petitioned the king to allow the restoration of their proper guard 
(31st Dec). Charles took three days in replying, and then sent 
a refusal, concluding thus : "We do engage unto you solemnly, 

ON THE WORD OF A KING, THAT THE SECURITY OF ALL AND 
EVERY ONE OF YOU FROM VIOLENCE IS, AND SHALL EVER BE, 
AS MUCH OUR CARE AS THE PRESERVATION OF US AND OUR 

children " (3rd Jan.). Upon the same day that this 
message was received, the king's attorney impeached of high 
treason, in the king's name, at the bar of the House of 
Lords, Lord Kimbolton, and five members of the Commons, 
Im h- -P ym > Hampden, Hollis, Haslerig, and Strode ; and 
ment of five desired immediate possession of the persons of the 
mem ers. accuse d. He read seven articles of accusation, but the 
real charge, which Charles hoped hereafter to substantiate by 
proof, was the fourth, that of having invited a foreign foe to in- 
vade England. This referred to secret encouragement that had 
been given by some of the popular leaders to the invading Cove- 
nanters of 1640, the very men on whom the king had just been 
conferring honours in Scotland ; and though such a charge could 
not be fairly made after the Scotch Act of Oblivion, passed in 
1641, it was quite possible that, the members once in his power, he 
could find means to ensure tk< dr suffering the penalty of high trea- 
son. Shortly after the articles of impeachment had been read in 
the Upper House, a sergeant-at-arms entered the Lower and 
said, " In the name of the king, my master, I am come to require 
Mr. Speaker to place in my custody five gentlemen, members of 
this House, whom his Majesty hath commanded me to arrest for 
high treason." The Lords had refused to deliver up Lord Kim- 
bolton ; the Commons replied by sending a committee to the 
king, in which were both Falkland and Colepepper, to inform 
him that their members should be forthcoming as soon as a legal 
ill ralitv of c ^arge was preferred against them (3rd Jan.). The 
kin- s pro- answer of the Commons meant more than it said, for 
. ^ e king's whole method of proceeding was illegal : 
1st, a commoner cannot be called to answer at the suit of the 
crown to a criminal charge, unless the articles contained in the 
bill of accusation are first declared by a grand jury not to be 
groundless ; 2nd, a commoner, unless impeached by the Commons 
before the House of Lords, can only be tried for treason before 



1642.] ATTEMPT ON FIVE MEMBEES. Ill 

the common law judges by a petty jury, after the bill of accusa- 
tion has been 'found' by a grand jury; 3rd, the king cannot 
arrest in person or by a messenger, but only by a warrant drawn 
up and signed by a magistrate or councillor ; and for this reason, 
that, if the arrest is illegal, an action may be brought against a 
fellow-subject, but not against the king, who, in the eye of the 
law, is himself the fountain of justice. 

Though the members, who should have been prisoners, were 
the heroes of the hour, Charles was far as yet from doubting his 
triumph. The next morning the queen at Whitehall was urging 
him not to hesitate in playing out the second act of his plan. 
li Allez, poltron" said she, as he seemed to hesitate, "go, pull 
those rogues out by the ears, ou ne me revoyez jamais." " In an 
hour," said the king, as he kissed her, " I will return master of 
my kingdom ;" and, followed by a train of some three hundred 
armed men, proceeded to Westminster to arrest his enemies in 
person. 

The Commons had received intimations from various quarters 
that some violence was intended, and were sitting, foreboding 
evil, when a friendly officer, who had climbed over the roofs of 
some neighbouring houses to be in time, entered the House with 
the information that, from this vantage point, he had seen the 
king set out from Whitehall, attended by his guards and a long 
train of cavaliers. The five members slipped out Five mem- 
through the Speaker's garden, and thence took boat bers esca P e - 
for the city, not a moment too soon, as they were hardly out of 
the House before Charles was entering Palace Yard, outside 
Westminster Hall. He came to the door of the Commons' 
House, and taking his nephew, now elector palatine,* in with him, 
commanded all others upon their lives to stay without. "So 
the doors were kept open, and the Earl of Eoxburgh stood within 
the door leaning upon it. Then the king came upwards towards 
the chair with his hat off, and the Speaker stepped out to meet 
him ; then the king stepped up to his place, and stood upon the 
steps, but sat not down in the chair. And after he had looked a 
great while, he told us he would not break our privileges, but 
treason had no privilege ; he came for those five gentlemen, 
for he expected obedience yesterday, and not an answer. Then, 

* Charles Louis, p. 14. 




112 ATTEMPT ON FIVE MEMBERS. [long parl. 

lie called Mr. Pym and Mr. Hollis by name, but no answer was 
made. Then he asked the Speaker if they were here, or where 
they were. Upon this, the Speaker fell on his knees, and said, 
'May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor 
tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to 
direct me, whose servant I am here, and humbly beg your 
Majesty's pardon, that I cannot give any other answer than this, 
to what your Majesty is pleased to demand of me.' l Well/ 
replied the king, ' since I see all the birds are flown, I do expect 
from you that you shall send them unto me as soon as they : 
hither, otherwise, I must take my own course to find them. 
I assure you, on the word of a king, I never did intend 
force, but shall proceed against them in a fair and legal 
He then left the House, amid cries of ' Privilege ! privile^ 
(4th Jan.). 

Notwithstanding his protest, the House felt that bloodshed 
had only been averted by the narrow escape of the five members. 
The next morning, still adhering to his resolution of obtaining 
the persons of the accused, Charles, unattended by any guards, 
drove from Whitehall into the cit3 r . As he passed through the 
streets, cries were raised of ' Privilege of Parliament/ 
to Guildhall, and some daring hand flung into his coach a paper 
mands per- Scribed, ' To your tents, O Israel !' a menace of re- 
sons of five volt like that of the ten tribes to Rehoboam. Arrived 
at Guildhall, he addressed the lord mayor, aldermen, 
and common councilmen, demanding them not to shelter in the 
city those whom he had accused of high treason, and saying re- 
peatedly he must have those traitors. But he had come on a 
bootless errand. Even among the city dignitaries his friends 
were few, while his foes were many, and cries of ' God bless the 
King/ were drowned by those of ' Privilege of Parliament.'* " I 
have/' said Charles, " and will observe all privileges of Parlia- 
ment, but no privileges can protect a traitor from a trial " (5th 
Jan.). Westminster being regarded as no longer safe, the Com- 
mons were installed in the Guildhall, where the city set a guard 
to defend them. There was no chance of Charles getting the 
members into his power, unless by force. The citizens were com- 
pletely alienated. Even those who had doubted the reports of 
previous plots against the Parliament, now believed in them all, 
* Forster, Five Members. 



1642.] FATAL RESULTS OF ATTEMPT. 113 

and recognized the foresight of Pym and Hampden, city alien- 
whom they had thought alarmists. All that had been ated - 
whispered of Ireland was now talked aloud and printed, while 
the shops of the city were shut, as if an enemy were at the gates. 
" Our late troubles have been attended with one benefit," said 
Hampden to Hyde, " that we know who are our friends. I 
know well you have a mind we should be all in prison." "Whether 
Hyde and the two new ministers did know or not, is still a moot 
point. Every one disclaims complicity in a plot that has failed. 
In Hyde's case even a knowledge of the intended impeachment 
involved treachery to friends he had long worked with. Accord- 
ing to Hyde's own account, Charles had promised nothing should 
be done without their knowledge, and then concealed this from 
them. The best solution is to suppose that Hyde knew he was 
not to know. 

There was now no hope of reconciliation between the two 
parties, short of Charles submitting to rule through a ministry 
responsible to Parliament. The march of those 300 on West- 
minster was in fact looked on as the declaration of war, war in- 
or rather as war without a declaration. Men who re- evitable - 
membered Eliot's fate, could not renounce self-defence after such 
a hair-breadth escape. Charles' hope had been, Periander like, 
to cut off the ears that overtopped. History has shown that a 
country can be unmanned by such a policy for a time. But 
by failure he had rather given the party heads than taken them 
away. 

The 11th of January was a gala day, a day of triumph for Pres- 
byterians and reformers. While the London train-bands marched 
along the banks of the Thames, to the sound of drum and trum- 
pet, as a guard, the five heroes of the day went by water from 
London Bridge to Westminster, followed by hundreds of boats 
and barges thronged with people and adorned with flags and 
streamers. Whitehall was silent as they passed. Charles had 
retired the day before to Hampton Court with his family to 
avoid the spectacle. " Where now are the king and his cavaliers ? 
What has become of them ?" cried the people, as with shouts of 
triumph they rowed on to reseat the members at Westminster. 
On landing the members were met by 4000 gentlemen and free- 
holders, who had come on horseback from Buckinghamshire, 
Hampden's native county, as a guard of honour for their insulted 

8 



114 COMMAND OF MILITIA. [long pael, 

representative, bringing with them a petition to the Parliament 
against the king's evil councillors. 

The king had made a great mistake. A momentary triumph, 
if won, is not a final victory ; and no successes won by violence 
or chicanery can make up for the lost vantage ground of clean 
hands and frank conduct. Charles was especially unfortunate ; 
his secret plots were always revealed, always failed, and always 
County precipitated the discussion of vital questions. It was 
militia. now necessary to raise forces to send against the Irish 

rebels. To whom was the right of commanding and calling out the 
county militia to belong 1 By the statute of "Winchester, passed 
in the thirteenth year of Edward I., every man was required to 
possess arms in quantity and value according to the value of his 
lands and goods, so that each county was provided with a sort of 
feudal militia, which was called out in lieu of police by the lord- 
lieutenant of the county, in case of any tumult or riot. Two 
rights with regard to this militia the king of England had always 
exercised ; first, that of nominating the lords-lieutenant and 
other officers in command ;* secondly, when invasion was threa- 
tened, that of sending so-called commissions of array to the 
lords-lieutenant, bidding them call out the militia and train them 
for service. But whether in time of peace the king could summon 
his subjects to service outside their respective counties, was a 
question that had never yet been determined, or if at all in the 
negative, as Charles had just passed a bill which deprived him of 
the power of pressing troops into his service. 

Both sides were equally keen on the question. The failure that 
rankled in Charles' breast was due, he thought, to the fact that 
his volunteers were enough to overawe the Commons, but not 
Command of enough to overawe the capital. The Parliament had 
militia. seen i w h a t use Charles intended to put the sword, if 
he got it. Accordingly the Commons sent a petition to the 
king, asking that Parliament should nominate the command- 
ers of fortified places, and the lords-lieutenant and other officers, 
of the militia forces. The people beset the Upper House, de- 
manding that the lords should both join in petitioning for the 
inilitia, which they had refused to do, and pass the bill removing 
ecclesiastics from all civil offices. 

Between the 20th of January, and 5th of February, numbers of 
* Hallam, Const, Hist. i. p. 552. 



1642.] KING LEAVES LONDON. 115 

petitions to this effect flowed in from town and country, Lordg pass 
from young men, apprentices, seamen, tradesmen, por- ^J^^'^f 
ters, women. Many lords left the House in disgust at 
the noise and violence of their petitioners. Those that remained 
yielded in both the points required, and an ordinance was at once 
prepared to transfer the command of the militia from the king 
to the Parliament (Feb.). Since his departure from London, 
Charles had been preparing for war. The queen was to cross 
to Holland to procure arms and ammunition by the sale of the 
crown jewels. He intended himself to fix his residence at York, 
where it was expected his friends would gather round him, and 
the people be found more devoted to their king than in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of London. When the bill to deprive the 
bishops of their seats in the House of Lords was presented to 
Charles, Colepepper urged him to yield, hoping that he Charles con- 
might save the command of the militia. ' It is better/ Chops' Ex- 
he said, ' to satisfy them in one or other of these bills ; elusion Bill, 
this one can easily be repealed, and while the sword remains in 
your hands, there will be no attempts to make further alterations.'* 
1 Is Ned Hyde of this mind V asked the king. ' No, he does not 
wish that either of the bills should be passed ; a very unreason- 
able judgment, as times go.' ' It is mine too, though/ replied 
Charles, ' and I will run the hazard.' Finding the king obsti- 
nate, Colepepper went to the queen, and assured her that in con- 
sequence of this refusal, the Parliament would stop her journey 
abroad. Henrietta, eager to get out of a country in which she 
felt herself always hated and now defenceless, never ceased impor- 
tuning her husband with tears till he gave his consent to this 
bill. 

At Newmarket, on his way to York, Charles gave his final 
answer to the commissioners sent by the Parliament to ask his 
consent to the Militia Ordinance. 'Talk of your fears and 
jealousies/ he said indignantly, after hearing a bitterly worded 
declaration read, ' what would you have ? Have I violated your 
laws ? Have I declined to pass one bill for the ease and security 
of my subjects ? I do not ask you what you have done for me. 
God so deal with me and mine as all my thoughts and bu t refuses 
intentions are upright for the observance of the laws Militia Bm - 
of the land.' ' I wish/ said one of the commissioners, ' your 

* Clar. Mem. 114. 

8—2 



116 



PEELUDE TO WAE. [long paei. 



Majesty would reside nearer your Parliament.' * I would you. 
had given me cause ; but I am sure this declaration is not the 
way to it.' ' Might not the militia be granted for a time f 
1 By God, not for an hour. You have asked that of me in this, 
was never asked of a king, and with which I will not trust my 
wife and children ' (9th March). 

At York, Charles found himself again in possession of power. 
The Cavaliers followed in eager crowds ; friends, who had been 
forced into exile, returned to his side, and many gentlemen 
from the neighbouring counties came to offer their support to his 
Ccause. His first step was to demand admittance to Hull, at that 
Charles re- time the arsenal of the north. On his approach he 
Knee into 11 " f° un(i tne S ates snut ' tne k rid g es drawn, the walls 
Hull. manned, as though an enemy were expected : and Sir 

John Hotham, who had been lately sent down as governor by 
the Commons, came upon the walls and, kneeling down, said 
he durst not open the gates, being placed in trust by 
the Parliament (April). When the Commons were attacked 
as endangering the foundations of private property by thus 
denying the king access to his own arsenal, Pym replied by 
attacking as unconstitutional the principle, "that his Majesty 
hath the same right and title to his towns and magazines that 
every particular man hath to his house, lands, and goods. ... 
This erroneous maxim, being infused into princes, that their 
kingdoms are their own, and that they may do with them what 
they will (as if their kingdoms were for them, and not they for 
their kingdoms) is the root of all the subjects' misery, and of all 
the invading of their just rights and liberties. Whereas, they 
are only intrusted with their kingdoms. . . . By the known law 
of this kingdom, the very jewels of the crown are not the king's 
proper goods, but are only intrusted to him for the use and orna- 
ment thereof ; as the towns, forts, treasures, magazines, offices, 
and people of the kingdom, and the whole kingdom itself, are 
intrusted unto him for the good, and safety, and best advantage 
thereof ; and as this trust is for the use of the kingdom, so it 
ought to be managed by the advice of the Houses of Parliament, 
whom the kingdom hath trusted for that purpose ; it being their 
duty to see it be discharged according to the condition and true 
intent thereof." 

Even the pretence of peace could hardly be maintained much 



1642 .] MEETINGS IN "5T0EK.SHIEE. u » 

loucer : and events we hurried on by the gentlemen of York- 
diffe who held a meeting in which it was proposed to ra.se a 
g^rd for the king's person (14th May). On the other s,de a e 
I century and a half of civil peace, the great body of the nation 
whatever the injuries they suffered, were not willing to see tne 
fl^nes of civil war re-lighted; and now, whale the gentleme 
were assembling, the freeholders of the county came crowding 
into York, declaring that they also ought to have been summoned, 
for the knights and gentlemen had no right to act m their name,. 
To satisfy them, a second meeting was held on the 3rd of June, 
at Heyworth Moor, where some 40,000 men assemb ed Meeting at 
to meet the king. The freeholders had prepared a geywth 
petition beting him to dismiss the Cavaliers and be 
at accord wTthliis Parliament. The Cavaliers, indignant at its 
contents tore the petition out of the hands of those who were 
r ad ng it to approving group, Yet the freeholders had their 
wish for young Thomas Fairfax, a Yorkshire gentleman, who 
Vmpathize'd with them, forced his way right up to the king, and 
Jailing upon one knee, fixed a copy of the petition npon the pom- 
mel of the royal saddle. 

The Parliament, on its side, was making active preparations. 
First it formed itself into a war-council, eliminating Parliament 
obstructives. The House had made np its mind on the b-ome^ 
end to be pursued, and freedom of discussion was eon- 
fined henceforward to the mean, Open supporters of theroyal 
enemy were put in confinement for a time or expelled the House 
One by one, as occasion or excuse offered, the king's friends fled to 
York the House of Peers, in which, when the Parliament first 
met lad sat above eighty, now dwindled down to twenty mem- 
beitt of the House of Commons sixty-five departed, amongst 
them Hyde and Falkland. An order was passed for raising troops 
and money (10th June) ; the money lent was to receive eight per 
Z, interest, the Parliament promising repayment »n the nation s 
credit Within a few days, such an amount of money and plate 
was brought to the treasurer at Guildhall, that there was hardly 
Tom to stow it; the wealthy bringing then- large bags and 
goblets, the poor women their very wedding-rings, and their gold 
fnd slver hair-pins, thimble and bodkin money,* as the 
realists contemptuously called it. The city was treated as a 
* Clar. Mem. 134 t Hallam, i. 537. J May, 1„9. 



118 PKELTTDE TO WAII. [long fabl. 

camp ; one who called the leaders traitors as a spy. In the 
artillery grounds in Finsbury fields, the muster ground of 
the volunteer troops, citizens were nearly all day at drill. The 
Presbyterians, who had formerly looked on the grounds with dis- 
favour, as the resort of courtiers and gentlemen, now hastened 
thither to practise themselves in arms, and enlist in the London 
trained bands. Major-General Skippon soon commanded eight 
regiments, above 8000 soldiers. The militia ordinance was put 
in force without further care for the king's consent. In the 
same counties, in the same towns, sometimes on the very same 
day, appeared the officer appointed by the Parliament, and the 
officer appointed by the crown, the one summoning the people to 
arms in the name of the ordinance, the other in that of the king's 
commission of array. 

Without slackening their preparations, the Parliament sent to 
the king at York nineteen propositions, for the first time formally- 
tabulating their demands. Their hope was not so much that the 
king would grant them, as that the blame of the war would fall 
upon him for his refusal. They asked, that he should resign to 
Parliament (1) the nomination of his privy councillors and other 
officers of state, (2) the command of the militia and all fortified 
places ; (3) that he should suffer the Church to be reformed by 
the advice of Parliament, and (4) not marry his children without 
Charles re- asking its consent. Though securities practically equiva- 
sitions of 1 * " ^ en ^ *° these ar e now incorporated in the constitution, 
York. the king of the seventeenth century was indignant at 

their bare proposal. " These being passed," he said, " we may be 
waited on bare-headed, have swords and maces carried before us, 
and please ourselves with the sight of a crown and sceptre, but as to 
true and real power, we should remain but the picture, but the sign 
of a king." The Commons fixed on the Earl of Essex as the general 
for their army. He had fought in his youth for the Protestant 
cause in the Low Countries. Charles had appointed him lieute- 
nant-general in the first Scotch campaign, and after it had dis- 
missed him with studied discourtesy. In earlier times he had suf- 
fered a deeper wrong from the Stuart court, for James the First 
had caused him to be divorced from his wife, in order to marry 
her to his own profligate favourite, Robert Carr, afterwards Earl of 
Somerset. Thus experience and personal antecedents seemed alike 
to fit him for the post. His nomination was acceptable to the Pres- 



1642.] ESSEX APPOINTED GENERAL. 119 

byterians, who sympathized with his creed ; to gentlemen, who 
would have scorned to serve under a general of inferior 
rank ; to the people at large, who loved his honest, pointed 
straightforward nature. On being voted general (4th s eneral - 
July), he proved at once his honesty and courage, by accept- 
ing the dangerous honour, defeat meaning death to the leader of 
a rebel army. Several members of the Parliament received 
commands ; St. John, Hampden, Hollis, were named colonels of 
regiments of foot ; Cromwell, Haslerig, Fiennes, of regiments 
of horse. Great excitement prevailed in London ; everybody 
went about decorated with orange ribands, the colour of Essex' 
house, the shops were closed, and civil business was almost at a 
standstill. 

The king was not idle ; the queen sent arms and Ki raiseg 
money from Holland, and, as soon as a small force his stan- 
was collected, he raised his standard on a hill near 
Nottingham (23rd August). Thence he marched into the west, 
making many friendly speeches to the people on his way, de- 
claring his good intentions towards the laws and liberties of the 
kingdom.* His nephews, Rupert and Maurice, sons of his sister 
Elizabeth, came over from Germany to fight for him ; the Ca- 
tholics lent him money, and by the middle of October he mustered 
at Shrewsbury an army of about 12,000 men. 

And now the people had to choose between King _ , , 
and Commons. Declarations and pamphlets were pictedby 
eagerly devoured. Though half a year had passed, ^ty^t^ 
the Grand Remonstrance still served as the chief mani- and persc- 
festo of the Parliament. In that document the king 
had been depicted as the tyrant, imprisoning without law, and 
taxing without right ; as the friend of Rome and the persecutor, 
cruelly maiming his subjects' bodies, and more cruelly maiming 
their souls' health ; while the Parliament stood forth as the up- 
holder of true and tempered liberty, who kept the property of 
the rich safe from the grasping hand of confiscation, the hard- 
won earnings of the poor from being wasted by monopolies and 
illegal customs ; who enabled peer and peasant to walk again on 
English soil, free of all constraint but the well-known laws ; and 
above all as the protector of tender consciences, godly itself, and 

* May, 134. 



120 PRELUDE TO WAR. [long pake. 

a shield to the godly against the courts which formed the new- 
English Inquisition. 

Commons ^ n tne ro 7 a li s * pamphlets the king was God's 

depicted by anointed, ruling by divine right, a pillar of the 
rebels and Church, the preserver of order, the upholder of the 
fanatics. ancient constitution, yet giving up his right at his sub- 
jects' desire, and passing every law that conduced to his people's 
good ; while the Commons were rebels, bent on encroaching alike 
on the king's prerogative and the rightful authority of the peers, 
friends of anarchy and misrule, ready to plunge the country in 
civil war to gratify their inordinate ambition, with a sullen and 
fanatical religion, which could neither take enjoyment itself, nor 
tolerate it in others ; in fact, with that in them which might 
make a tyranny of many, far worse than any tyranny of one. 
Charles the But since the Bemonstrance the king had unf ortu- 
deceiver. na tely added to the reckoning his enemies kept against 
him. Not only had the tyranny received a new illustration in 
their eyes from the attempted arrest of the five members ; the 
friendship with Borne by the muster of Catholics, and the perse- 
cution from a proclamation against Puritans ; but a new count 
of crime was added. The solemn assurance to the Commons, 
that their preservation was as much his care as that of his wife 
and children, had been used to lull them into a false security ; 
the oath that, on the honour of a king, he had never intended 
force, stood blankly contradicted by his armed retinue at the door. 
The untruthfulness of character suspected from his answer to the 
Petition of Eight, and more than suspected from the army plots, 
now seemed a certainty. To the Parliament the king was not 
only the tyrant and the persecutor, but the deceiver. This count 
was really the cause of the war. Charles was not incapable of 
the position of a constitutional governor. He had ability above 
the average, dignity of manners, and a higher dignity, raising- 
him above all low tastes ; and he had not that unbending 
obstinacy, which would amount to incapacity, as a governor. 
But he was believed to have admitted an unfortunate distinction 
between a public and private conscience, which dispensed him 
from the necessity of keeping faith with political opponents. 
Measures past, concessions obtained, promises to observe the law,, 
all these the cherished victories of peaceful patriots, seemed as 
unavailing as bands to bind a Proteus. The very awe of majesty 



1642.] CHAELES THE DECEIVER. 121 

requires a king's truthfulness to be above suspicion. But the 
leaders of the Commons had to work with a vision of the Tower 
ever before their eyes : the fairer the offers made to them the 
more the dread of foul play. This prevented the due action of that 
safety-valve of the State, a constitutional opposition. Even in 
foreign diplomacy, where bad faith is not uncommon, the dis- 
coverer of fraud is held justified in laying arbitration aside and 
drawing the sword at once : at home the interests of king and 
subjects being really identical, deceit has still less occasion for 
practice. 

Devoted partisans on either side were not very many in num- 
ber. Those of the king were mostly to be found in the soldiers 
of fortune from Germany, and the more reckless of the country 
gentlemen, who looked forward to the excitement of war. On 
the Parliament's side the Presbyterians and sectarians, seeing in 
their own cause the cause of God, strove for the overthrow of the 
Established Church with all the ardour of religious enthusiasts. 
But between the views of these two extreme parties opinion 
generally fluctuated, and men took sides doubtingly as their natures 
or circumstances prompted. 

The greater part of the nobility and gentry either openly joined 
the king, or tried to remain neutral, and generally had Gentry with 
sufficient influence over their tenantry to cause them to ng * 
embrace the same side as themselves. To many it seemed absurd 
to hazard wealth and a secured position to avoid paying a few 
shillings arbitrarily raised ; an upheaval from below was more 
dangerous to them than pressure from above ; others, again, who 
recognized the importance of the principle at stake, were still in- 
clined to their king by the instincts of chivalry, or the abhorrence 
of fanaticism. On the other hand, the inhabitants of manufactur- 
ing towns, independent county freeholders, merchants, Towns and 
and others, who had made fortunes in trade, and after- ^h com- 
wards bought land in the country, showed themselves, mons. 
as a rule, friendly to Parliament. Besides being influenced by re- 
ligion and a sense of independence, these classes had especially 
suffered from the monopolies and extortions which had raised the 
price of necessaries and shackled the enterprise of trade. There 
were exceptions, however, on both sides. Many gentlemen felt that 
the cause of the Parliament was so good, they were bound to take 
up arms in its defence ; many yeomen and burghers adhered to then* 



122 PRELUDE TO WAR. [loko pael. 

county magnates and their king. As a general rule, where the con- 
tagion of neighbourhood or the necessities of religion did not decide 
the question, the king was preferred to the Parliament. It was only 
the men of strong convictions, of unusual foresight, who would 
coolly and deliberately embark on an unknown sea, without chart 
or compass of guidance, and risk all for the sake of liberty, and 
the doubtful gratitude of posterity. So with unwilling hearts 
did men array themselves. One Royalist wrote to his wife, that 
though he loved not his side, ' grinning honour 7 compelled him 
to stay by it, for he could not bring himself to fight for the Par- 
liament, and if he remained neutral he should be called a coward.* 
" You," said Sir Edmund Verney, the king's standard-bearer, to 
Hyde, who reproved him for looking melancholy, " are satisfied 
in conscience that the king ought not to grant what they desire. 
I have eaten my master's bread, and served him near these thirty 
years, and will not do so base a thing as to forsake him, but for 
my part I do not like the quarrel, and wish he would yield."f 

Sir William "Waller, one of the Parliament's commanders, 
wrote to Sir Ralph- Hopton, a Royalist officer : " The great God, 
Avho is the searcher of my heart, knows with what reluctance I 
go upon this service, and with what perfect hatred I look upon a 
war without an enemy. The God of peace in His good time 
send us peace, and in the meantime fit us to receive it ! We are 
both on the stage, and we must act the parts that are assigned us 
in this tragedy ; let us do it in a way of honour, and without per- 
sonal animosities." 

At any rate, thought these unwilling enemies, one battle will 
decide everything, so that, whatever the consequences to the 
vanquished, our country will soon rest again on 'the gentle 
bosom of civil peace.' 

* Forsfcer, B. S. iii. 50. f Clar. Mem. 160. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FIRST YEARS OF THE WAR. — BATTLES OF EDGEHILL AND 
NEWBURY.— 1 642—1 643. 

They stood aloof, the scavs remaining, 
Like cliffs which had been rent asunder, 

A dreary sea now flows between, — 

But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, 

Shall wholly do away, I ween, 

The marks of that which once hath been. 

COLEEIDGE. 

It must not "be supposed that the Commons declared q nstitu- # 
war against the king. The popular leaders were most tudefof 
careful to maintain a quasi-legal ground for their re- Commons, 
sistance. Novel and subtle as their principles seemed at the 
time, they have since been largely accepted. Pym's speeches 
in fact may be said to have laid down the lines of the theory on 
which modern constitutional government is based. Thus the 
Remonstrance was framed as an attack, not on the king, but on 
his councillors ; and when the king objected that actions which 
he avowed as his own were ' censured under that common style/ 
Pym's answer was, "How often and undutifully soever these 
wicked counsellors fix their dishonour upon the king, by making 
his Majesty the author of those evil actions which are the effects 
of their own evil counsels, we, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful 
subjects, can use no other style, according to that maxim in the 
law, ' the king can do no wrong,' but if any ill be committed in 
matter of State, the council must answer for it : if in matters of 
justice, the judges."* So now the Commons went to war with the 
actual king to protect the ideal king of the constitution from evil 
counsellors. This appears in their declaration " that, whereas the 
king was seduced by wicked counsel to make war against the 
Parliament, who proposed no other end unto themselves than the 
* Forster, British Statesmen. Pym, p. 269. 



124 BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. [was 1st yb. 

care of his kingdom and the performance of all loyalty to his-, 
person, it was a breach of the trust reposed in him by his 
people, and tending to the dissolution of his government." The 
legal maxims of the royal lawyers of the past had received a new 
reading from the popular lawyers of the present. The new wine 
seemed bursting the old bottles, but the bottles have since ex- 
panded to the strain. That these ideas were genuine beliefs of the 
time, is shown as well by the cherished clause of the covenant, "to 
preserve the king's person and authority," as by the real horror 
felt when Republicans first broke through this reserve, or when 
Cromwell averred that his pistol would be no respecter of persons. 
The patriots were not, however, wanting in readiness to chastise 
their ' poor, semi-divine, misguided father, fallen insane.'* 

Essex marched from London into the west (9th Sept., 1642), 
and took up his head-quarters at Worcester, where he remained 
without venturing to offer the Royalists battle. Charles, wishing 
to fight before the rebel army could be reinforced, broke up his 
camp at Shrewsbury (12th Oct.), and marched across the country 
in the direction of London, feeling certain that Essex would 
follow him to protect the city. He went by way of Wolver- 
hampton, Birmingham, Kenilworth, and passing Southam, on 
the road to Banbury and Buckingham, arrived at Eclgecote, 
without having any knowledge of his enemies' movements (22nd 
Oct.).t Here, however, Rupert, who was encamped with the rear 
at Wormleighton, learnt from his scouts that fires were to be seen 
from the Dassett hills, and that Essex had his head-quarters that 
night at the village of Kineton, half way between Warwick and 
Banbury, and only ten miles to the north-west of Edgecote. 
The king, aroused from sleep at three in the morning, on hearing 
this news, at once summoned a council of war, in which it was 
agreed to hold without delay a general rendezvous of the army on 
the top of Edgehill. 

To appreciate the tactics of the time it is necessary to remember 
Armour of the nature of the weapons. The soldiers on, either side 
foot soldiers. were arme d a fter the same fashion. The introduction 
of fire-arms had caused the defensive armour of the ordinary horse 
and foot soldiers to be reduced to a back and breast piece and a 
1 1 road iron hat, commonly called a pot ; cal ves'-leather boots reach ing 
up to the knees, and a long buff coat worn under the armour, 
* Carl. i. 160. t See Map, p. 127. 



23 OCT., 1642.] ARMOUR AND WEAPONS. 125 

completed their equipment. Officers often wore open helmets, arm 
and shoulder pieces, and tassets or skirts to protect the thighs. 

The cavalry was divided into three classes — the cuiras- Cavalry> _ 
siers, the carabineers, and the dragoons.* The cuiras- three 
siers being almost without exception gentlemen, arming 
themselves at their own expense, came to battle magnificently 
appointed, with silver-hilted swords, plumes of feathers waving 
above open helmets, and buff coats gay with gold and silver trim- 
mings. Their usual weapons were the sword and pistol. The 
carabineers were so called from the name of their carbine or mus- 
ket. The dragoons were light armed, having only the buff coat 
and iron hat, and were like mounted riflemen, fighting as much 
on foot as on horse, but with swords for cavalry work. 

The infantry was divided into bodies of pikemen and M US k e t 
musketeers, the use of musket and bayonet not yet and pike, 
being combined in the same weapons. The pike, made of ash, 
was fifteen or sixteen feet long, and headed with steel. 

The musket or matchlock was not advanced beyond the first 
stage of invention. The spark to fire the gunpowder was applied 
from the outside, instead of being produced by the concussion of 
flint and steel. The match consisted of little ropes of tow, 
boiled in spirit ; these, when lighted at one end, smouldered on 
until the whole was consumed. The musket was still such a 
heavy and cumbersome weapon that it had to be fixed on a rest. 
This rest was made of ash-wood, headed at one end with iron 
to fix in the ground, and having at the other a half hoop of iron. 
'Before the end of the war the musketeer was relieved of this 
additional burden. Eests were disused owing to the introduction 
of lighter and more portable muskets. To a belt, fastened 
round the musketeer's left shoulder, hung a bullet bag, some 
twists of spare match, a flask of touch powder, and a bandeleer, 
with twelve little cases, made of leather or tin, each of which 
contained a separate charge of powder. As loading and firing 
were both long operations, only one rank fired at a time, and the 

* The dragoons are said to have received their name from the locks of the 
first muskets in use amongst them, on which was represented a dragorCs 
head with a lighted match in its jaws, a natural image of a death-dealing 
engine. Both weapon and name came from France, The cuirassiers were 
so called from the original name of the hack and breast piece, a cuirasse. 
Like other pieces of defensive arms the cuirasse was made of leather (euir) 
before it was made of iron. Buff was leather like buffalo-hide ; it would often 
turn a sword-cut. 



12Q BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. [wab, 1st te 

musket was by no means so great an advance in the art of des- 
truction as we might suppose from our experience of the modern 
rifle. Field guns were also cumbersome, and seem to have done 
little execution. It was when the ranks had come to push of 
pike, or when the victors mercilessly cut down the flying foe 
with the sword, that the dead fell thickest. There were no regu- 
lar unforms. Different regiments of infantry on either side often 
wore buff coats dyed the colour belonging to the house of their 
colonel. Thus Hampden's men wore green coats ; Lord Grey's 
blue ; others, red, purple, and gray. All the officers of the Parlia- 
ment wore orange scarfs, the colour of the house of Essex. But 
in the confusion of the battle, a twig of green, a sprig of broom, or 
a bit of coloured riband, fastened to the hat, with the help of the 
word for the day, was the chief guide by which to distinguish 
friend from foe. 

Edgehill, which forms ' the face or edge of the tableland of the 
north of Oxfordshire,' looks abruptly down on the Warwickshire 
level below, and as it is approached from Kineton, stands out a 
Battle of long bold nne oi nu "l against the horizon. The eastern 
Edgehill. slopes rise more gently, and hither on Sunday morn- 
ing, the 23rd of October, came the Koyalist regiments from their 
scattered quarters on the Southam and Banbury road, many of 
them having to march eight miles or more before they reached 
the summit. The side of the hill, which faces Kiueton, is now 
covered with large trees, wearing on an October day all the varied 
tints of autumn, but then only a few bushes were scattered over 
it. The undulating plain below, lying between Kineton and Rad- 
way,now all brought under cultivation and crossed by innumerable 
hedgerows, was then an open desolate-looking pasture ground ; 
one long hedge alone, which survives to the present day and 
probably marked the enclosure of an old homestead there, struck 
across it about midway between the two villages. 

Essex saw the Royalist horse moving on the top of Edgehill 
before eight o'clock, and at once formed his army in front of 
Kineton, facing south-east, ready to fight if the king should 
come down and offer battle on equal terms. Several causes 
induced Charles to gratify the wishes of his enemies, and abandon 
his unassailable position on the summit of Edgehill. Extreme 
confidence prevailed amongst the Cavaliers. Rupert made no 
doubt of victory, and urged immediate battle. It was known 



MAP OF EDGEHILL. 



127 



^Northampton © ^ 




128 BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. [wab, 1st yb. 

that two regiments of horse and one of foot under Colonel Hamp- 
den were a day's march behind the rest of Essex' army, engaged 
in bringing up some artillery, which it was hard to drag through 
the heavy clayey soil. Lastly, ever since the army had reached 
KLenilworth, there was no food to be got. The country people, in 
these Midland counties more inclined to the Parliament than 
to the king, and frightened by reports of the cruel and plunder- 
ing habits of the Cavaliers, had hidden their provisions, so that 
some of the common soldiers were half starved, and had hardly 
eaten bread for forty-eight hours. The prince thought no better 
remedy could be found to bring the people to their reason than 
a victory gained over the rebels. Accordingly the Eoyalists' 
formed on the top of Edgehill, fronting the north-west, ready to 
march down the hill and give the enemy battle on the level 
between Had way and Kineton. The king's army was about 
12,000 strong ; that of Essex about 10,000. Both were disposed 
Disposition according to the tactics of the time. The main body of 
of armies. f 00 t ^g^ ^^g ce ntre. Every corps of infantry consisted 
of pikemen and musketeers, the pikemen drawn up in the centre, 
the musketeers in the flanks. The lines were rareJy less than 
ten deep, in order that when the front rank of musketeers had 
fired, they might have time to retire to the rear, form and reload, 
while the other nine ranks were severally performing the same 
motions. In either wing was placed the horse, generally supported 
by regiments of infantry or dragoons. A body of horse was kept 
in reserve, ready at any critical moment to assist friends or press 
hard upon foes. Essex commanded his centre in person. On his 
left wing, he placed his principal body of horse, and part of five 
regiments of infantry ; on his right, three regiments of horse, 
his artillery on some slightly rising ground near where Battle 
Farm now stands, and dragoons on foot to line the long hedge 
that ran across the ground. The king's centre was commanded 
by his general-in-chief, the Earl of Lindsey. Rupert was half 
a mile off to the right ; Colonel Wilmot, who commanded the left 
vang, as far off on the left. 

Rupert, though far more distinguished for courage than judg- 
ment, and only twenty- three years old, had been made by Charles 
lieutenant-general of the horse. His temper was imperious, his 
manners overbearing, and now, refusing to obey any commands, 
except those received directly from the king's lips, he acted as 
though he was entirely independent of the Earl of Lindsey. 



23 OCT., 1642.] ESSEX' WINGS KOUTED. 129 

About one o'clock, the Royalists, having a front of two miles, 
streamed down the hill in three lines, their two wings gradually 
converging towards their centre as they approached the enemy. 
It was already three o'clock, and the October day on its decline, 
before the battle commenced. "Come life or death," said 
Charles to his principal officers, as he left his tent, " your king 
will bear you company," and with his own hand fired the first 
piece of artillery. 

As Rupert was advancing upon the enemy's left wing, Sir 
Faithful Fortescue, a major in Essex' army, and his whole troop 
of horse, rode forward and joined the ranks of the prince. Thus 
encouraged, the Cavaliers charged impetuously, while the Parlia- 
ment's horse, inexperienced, and panic-stricken by the base deser- 
tion of their comrades, having once fired their pistols into the 
air, turned their horses' heads and fled, throwing into confusion 
several regiments of infantry behind them, which also Essex' left 
took to flight, in spite of all the efforts of their officers, wingrouted. 
" The Lord Mancleville's* men would not stand the field, though 
his lordship beseeched, nay cudgelled, them ; no nor yet the Lord 
Wharton's men ; Sir William Fairfax his regiment, except some 
eighty of them, used their heels." Horse and foot fled in one 
confusion together towards Kineton, whither they were closely pur- 
sued by Rupert, who was intent on plundering the baggage carts, 
which could be seen standing unguarded in the village streets. 

Meanwhile, on the king's left wing, the Royalists had been 
equally successful in clearing the field of the larger part Essex' right 
of the Parliamentary horse. But whatever advantage wing routed. 
these mounted gentlemen gained over the raw recruits of the 
Parliament, who had but just learnt to sit a horse or fire a pistol, 
was all lost through want of subordination to their general. 
For what folly in Rupert to be plundering at Kineton, instead of 
seeing how the battle went under Edgehill ! What rashness in 
the king's reserve of horse, whose special function it was to decide 
the day by a charge at the critical moment on the critical point, 
and as a reserve never to follow up an advantage till the whole 
field was theirs, to clap spurs into their horses, and without orders 
join in this idiotic pursuit of one wing of the enemy, while his 
centre was still unbroken ! These heedless acts lost the king his 
victory. In the absence of all the Royalist horse from the field, 

* Lord Simbolion (p. Ill), afterwards Earl of Manchester (p. 155). 

9 



igo BATTLE OE EDGEHILL. [>ab, 1st ye. 

the Parliament's reserve, after charging through the enemy's 
lines and spiking several pieces of cannon, fell upon the rear of 
his centre. At the same time Essex, supported by the officers 
from his broken wings, who, scorning to fly with their men, had 
Meeting of rallied around their own main battle, put himself at the 
centres? head of his infantry, and fiercely charged the Eoyalist 
ranks in front. And now came the real struggle of the day. Charles, 
conspicuous in his steel armour and black velvet mantle, on which 
o-littered his Star and George, rode into the leading ranks, en- 
couraging his troops to hold their ground. But no valour could 
resist the odds against which his men were fighting, attacked at 
once in front and rear, and outflanked through the absence of 
their own wings and the superior numbers of the enemy. What 
slope of the ground there was favoured the troops of the Parlia- 
ment ; the slain and wounded fell by scores in the space of a few 
yards ; the Earl of Lindsey, badly shot, was carried off the field by 
the enemy ; the king's standard-bearer was slain, and his stand- 
ard placed in the hands of Essex. But a gallant Royalist captain, 
by the simple artifice of fastening an orange scarf to his person, 
and riding boldly up to the earl's secretary, to whose keeping the 
prize had been entrusted, succeeded in quietly taking it from him, 
saying it was not fit for a penman to have the* honour of carrying 
that standard ; then bearing it back in triumph to the king, he 
was knighted beneath its shadow. 

Charles, though he had only a hundred horse about him, and 
was within half a musket- shot of the enemy, refused to retire. He 
ordered Charles and James, his two boys of twelve and nine years 
old, who were by his side, to be taken out of danger. His phy- 
sician, the great Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the 
blood, having retired with the princes to the shelter of some 
bushes, took a book out of his pocket, and read, quite regardless 
of the turmoil round him, until a bullet grazed the ground close 
by, and warned him to remove his charges out of range. 

Meanwhile Rupert and the Cavaliers, after plundering the 
"baggage, were following up the pursuit of the Parliament's horse, 
when they were stopped at a hill a little beyond Kineton, which 
is still known as Rupert's headland, by the approach of Hampden's 
three regiments with the artillery. Rupert retreated hastily, but 
, only to find the Royal infantry forced up under the 

tires before foot of the hill, and the ground he had occupied in 
Hampden. the llI0 :-ning now held by the troops of the Parlia- 



1642.] DOUBTFUL EESULT. 131 

ment. " I can give a good account of the enemy's horse," he said, 
when he saw the confusion of his party. " Ay !" exclaimed a 
Cavalier, with an oath, " and of their carts too." As it was now 
half-past five, it was quite impossible to distinguish friends from 
foes, and the two armies drew apart. The Royalists passed the 
night at the foot and on the side of the hill, where, pinched with 
cold and hunger, they made what fires they might out of the few 
bushes growing about. Essex' troops also spent that Sunday 
night on the field, in little better plight than their enemies. " I 
had tasted no meat," says one, " since the Saturday before, and 
having nothing to keep me warm but a suit of iron, I was obliged 
to walk about all night, which proved very cold by reason of a 
sharp frost." Large numbers on both sides deserted during the 
night, and the next morning there was, in either army, a general 
unwillingness to renew the battle. The king retired, over Edge- 
hill into Oxfordshire ; Essex to Warwick, whence he had come.* 

Though the Parliamentarians laid claim to a victory, the re- 
sults of the battle seemed to favour the king. Banbury, Results of 
Abingdon, Henley, opened their gates without a show battle - 
of resistance ; and soon Rupert and the Cavaliers were plunder- 
ing the country in the very neighbourhood of London. 

The disposition of London was most important. Not only did 

the opinions and acts of the Londoners exercise weight all over 

the kingdom, but on the readiness of the city mer- „ 

, . J Disposition 

chants to lend money was likely for some time to de- of London- 

pend the pay and maintenance of the Parliament's ers ' 
army. Though often terrified, the city never failed in its support 
to the Parliament, nor was it unfairly called by Charles " the 
nursery of the rebellion." It opened wide its coffers ; sent out 
apprentices by thousands to enlist in the army ; organized a for- 
midable force of its own under the name of the city trained bands ; 
and, in fact, was always ready to give the nation some striking, 
if not turbulent, proof of its zeal. 

The principal motive that urged the citizens to support the war 
was their eager longing to be allowed to worship according to 
the forms of the Presbyterian Church. Had Charles at this time 
granted toleration to Presbyterians, he would have deprived the 
Parliament of some half of its most zealous supporters. The day 

* Gar. Hist., iii. ; Ludlow, i. ; Ellis, Ori£. Letters, 2nd series, iii. 303 ; 
May, 23 ; Warwick Mem., 231 ; Beesley, Hist, of Banbury, 308, 320 ; Grose, 
Hist, of Ancient Avniour. 

9—2 



LONDON THREATENED. [wab, 1st yr. 

Uidgenui, auui CB }j u t]imk t0 

"Gentlemen, citizens of London, he said, you m u 
fio-ht in the sighs and tears of your wives and children. Therefore 
when you hefr the drums beat, say not, I beseech you I am not of 
the" led band, nor this, nor that, nor the other, but doubt not to 
2 out to the wok, and this shall be the day of your deliverance. 
What is it we fight for ? It is for our religion, and for ^ our God 
and for our liberty and all. And what is it they fight for I For 
their lust, for their wills, and for their tyranny ; to make s 
slaves, and to overthrow all. Gentlemen, methmks I see yom 
courage in your faces. I spy you ready to do anything, and the 
general's resolution is to go out to-morrow, and do as a man of 
courage and resolution, and never man did like him. t 

In spite however, of the exhortations of the leaders of the Par- 
liament, and the presence of Essex and his army, fear was so pre- 
valent in the city that the Commons sent a petition to the king, 
Proposed proposing a treaty. Charles, after returning a gracious 
Treaty. . answe r, in which he called God to witness his great 
BreSd. desire for peace and offered to treat at Windsor or 
wherever else he might be (12th Nov.), took advantage of a thick 
mist to advance unperceived from Colnbrook, and f all upon a few 
regiments of foot and a small party of horse, that garrisoned Brent- 
ford and protected the road to London (13th Nov.).* For this 
action he was accused by his enemies of treachery. Since no ces- 

* Heir to Sir Fulke Greville, to whom James I. granted the barony, with 
Warwick Castle. u . t Par .Hist. Ji 

J On this occasion Milton fixed this sonnet on his door, claiming the revei- 
ence Lysander showed to the city of Euripides, and Alexander to the poet ot 
Thebes : 

Captain or colonel, or knight in arms, 

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, 
If deed of honour did thee ever please, 
Guard them, and him within protect from harms. 
He can requite thee, for he knows the charms 
That call fame on such gentle acts as these, 
And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas, 
Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms. 
Lift not thy spear against the muses' bower : 
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare 
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower 
Went to the ground : and the repeated air 
Of sad Electra's poet had the power 
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare. 



ie42 j EAST VERSUS WEST. 133 

sation of arms had been made, lie was justified, by the rules of 
war in seizing any advantage that offered him an opportunity 
of treating from a more favourable position. Still he had been 
trusted as a king rather than as an enemy, and the citizens were 
exasperated on finding that his gracious answer to their petition 
had been intended as a mere blind, and that his hope, when 
he gave it, had been to enter London at the swords point 
Not a word was any longer heard of a treaty. All the night 
after the action at Brentford, the indignant city was indication 
pouring out men, encouraging its apprentices to en- 1L ' _ 
list, and reinforcing the army of Essex out of its own train- 
bands. " Come, my boys, my brave boys," said their com- 
mander, Skippon, to these new troops, "I will run the same 
fortunes and hazards with you. Kemember, the cause is tor 
God, and for the defence of yourselves, your wives and <*ndren 
Come, my honest and brave boys, pray heartily, and tignt 
heartily, and God will bless us." Two days after the fight, 
24 000 men were reviewed on Turnham Green, midway between 
London and Brentford ; yet Essex, habitually cautious, refused 
to risk a battle, so that the king was allowed to withdraw his 
troops, without opposition, to the neighbourhood of Oxford, a 
town devoted to his cause, which he intended making his head- 
quarters for the winter. 

The whole country now began to take part in the whole 
war. Leaders on either side appeared in nearly every ™l ged 

• ._• -j _ j 14. — „ ■nr^vfo.-o Trvwms. struggle 



in 

le. 



eounty, and maintained a desultory warfare. Towns, struggi 
castles, houses, were fortified, garrisoned, and besieged. The 
number of the troops on each side depended on the inclinations 
of the people. Those counties alone enjoyed peace withm then- 
borders, in which one party far outnumbered the other. 

In the east, where there were many towns engaged in the 
staple manufacture of England— woollen cloth— as Norwich, Sud- 
bury, Colchester, Yarmouth, and Lynn, the king's enemies so far 
outnumbered his friends, that all opposition to the Parliament was 
quickly crushed by the energy of Colonel Cromwell, who associated 
the seven counties of Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, Cambridge, Hunt- 
ingdon, Lincoln, and Hertford together into a confederacy against 
the king. In Kent and the other south-eastern counties, though 
many of the gentry were Royalists, the Parliament's friends were 
so far the stronger, that little opposition could be offered them. 



13* TOWN VERSUS COUNTRY. [ WAE> 2nd tb. 

Berkshire went with Oxford for the king, while Hampshire and 
Wiltshire were battle-grounds between the two. In the west 
where there were fewer freeholders than in the east, the king's 
friends predominated, though even here many important trading, 
manufacturing, or fishing towns were held for the Parliament, as 
Bristol, the second town in the kingdom for size and wealth, Glou- 
cester, Weymouth, Plymouth, and Lyme. The backward district 
of Wales, and the Cornish, like their Breton brethren in later time, 
went wholly with their king and feudal lords : but elsewhere in 
the west, the king's enemies were generally to be found in num- 
bers sufficient to keep the country in a state of constant warfare. 
In the midland counties, the partisans of the Parliament again 
predominated, though here the Eoyalists made head against their 
enemies, and held a strong garrison at Newark, in Nottingham- 
shire, by which communication was kept up between Oxford and 
York. North of the Humber, the two parties were about equally 
matched. The Earl of Newcastle and his numerous tenantry de- 
clared for the king ; but many of the county freeholders joined 
the inhabitants of Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax, Man- 
chester, and the other seats of the woollen manufacture, in ad- 
hering to the Parliament. Thus, as generally happens in times of 
movement, the towns favoured progress, the country reaction. 

The queen, who had been successful in Holland, through the 
interest of the Prince of Orange, her son-in-law, returned to Eng- 
land in the spring, accompanied by four ships, laden with arms 
and ammunition, soldiers and officers (22nd February.) She 
escaped the fleet of the Parliament in her passage, but about 
two days after her landing at Bridlington, in Yorkshire, the 
town was bombarded by Admiral Batten with such effect,' that 
she was forced to fly from her lodging, and seek shelter in a ditch 
in the open fields, where balls scoured over her head. She 
escaped however without injury, and by the union of her re- 
sources with those of the Earl of Newcastle, a formidable army 
was soon raised, which was called by the friends of the Parliament 
' the Northern Papist Army, ; being regarded with special aversion. 
Newcastle's Papists there were in plenty amongst its ranks, for 
n^litL. ' Charl es ' thou g n in his printed delarations he constantly 
denied the fact, had ordered Newcastle to let any serve 
who would. "You see," said the joking earl, one day as he 
pointed out the weakness of some fortifications, "though they call 
us the army of Papists, we cannot trust in our good works." 



1643.] , PEACE PARTY IN LONDON. 135 

The increasing power and success of the Royalist forces now 
caused discouragement to many friends of the Parliament, who 
had thought to bring the king to terms within a few months. 
In the Parliament and in the city, a peace party appeared, com- 
posed in large part of men who observed with annoy- Peacs P arfc y 

j.1. • a -x t,- -u 4.1, ■ • formed m 

ance the influence into which the war was raising London, 
both sectarians and people of inferior rank. It was not plea- 
sant to the lord to hear himself spoken of as on an equality 
with a plain country gentleman ; the Presbyterian did not like 
to hear the sectarian demanding toleration for all creeds ; indig- 
nation burnt in more breasts than those of Royalists, when the 
tale was told how Admiral Batten had done such an ungracious, 
unchivalrous act as to fire on the very house the queen was in. 
Some began to think it time to change sides. The governor of 
Scarborough betrayed his trust, and surrendered the town to the 
queen. Sir John ITotham, governor of Hull, would now have fol- 
lowed this example, had not the Parliament discovered his inten- 
tion in tim* to prevent its execution. Many Presbyterians would 
gladly have made peace, if only they could have obtained the king's 
consent to the establishment of their own Church : while the evils 
of the hour made those who were no friends to arbitrary power 
overlook the many proofs they had experienced of Charles' ill 
faith, and forget the importance of the cause for which they were 
engaged. But the leaders of the Commons, Pym, Hampden, and 
their close followers, never wavered for an instant ; they had 
taken the resolution of continuing the war until the king was 
really conquered and forced to submit to terms that would de- 
prive him of power to injure his subjects' liberties, and from this 
resolution they never swerved. These firmer spirits found the:r 
warmest supporters in the sectarians, to whom peace and a conse- 
quent triumph of Presbyterians or Episcopalians offered nothing 
but a prospect of bitter persecution. At Oxford councils were as 
divided as at Westminster. There also two parties appeared ; the 
one desired to restore Charles to the exercise of absolute power at 
the sword's point ; the other to obtain by negotiations a peace re- 
storing him to the exercise of power bounded by law. p arties in 
The war party was led by the king's nephews, Rupert Oxford. 
and Maurice, two imperious young foreigners. " Tush," Rupert 
would say, when any objection was made to his commands, as 
contrary to law, " we will have no more law in England but the 



13 6 PEACE PARTY IN" OXFORD. [wab, 2nd ts. 

sword." This party was supported by the professional soldiers 
from the continent, the Papists, many of the country gentlemen, 
and by courtiers and self-seekers generally, who thought that if 
a peace were effected by negotiation, the rebels at Westminster 
would get too good terms for themselves, and the king be unable 
to reward his friends sufficiently for their services. The peace 
party, on the other hand, was composed of men of less selfish 
and less violent dispositions, who, though fighting under Charles' 
banner, loved their country's liberties, and grieved over its suf- 
ferings. The people, indeed, endured much, and the war was 
raising up a bitter spirit even between members of the same 
families. The nearest relations constantly fought in opposite 
ranks, and it was no uncommon tale to hear of the dying 
soldier who took his death the more heavily because he had 
seen the fatal shot fired by a brother's hand. The courteous 
and affable Lord Falkland was so altered by grief, that to his 
friends he seemed hardly the same man. He became pale, morose, 
short in his answers, untidy in his dress ; and sitting among his 
friends would after a long silence cry out passionately, " Peace, 
peace," and say, " that the very agony of the war, and the view 
of the calamities and desolation the kingdom did and must endure, 
took his sleep from him, and would shortly break his heart." So 
loud was the cry for peace raised, both in London and at Oxford, 
that the extreme party on either side was obliged to yield and 
Peace pro- allow negotiations to be held (March). The proposi- 
offaredat ^ ons now drawn up for the king's acceptance, like 
Oxford. those before offered at York, required him to abolish 
Episcopacy, and to resign the command of the militia and other 
executive powers to Parliament. 

Charles, having been proved a match for his opponents in 
arms, of course refused these terms. Though he pretended to 
be exceedingly desirous for peace, he belonged at heart to the 
war party, and looked forward to being restored to an arbitrary 
throne by the force of his friends' swords. Angrily interrupt- 
ing the Earl of Northumberland, when reading as one of the 
Parliament's propositions, 'A bill to vindicate the five mem- 
bers,' he proposed as his final answer that the Parliament should 
deliver into his hands forts, towns, magazines, ships, and revenue, 
and adjourn to some place twenty v miles from the capital, in 
which case he would consent to the disbanding of the armies, 



1643.] DISTRUST OF ESSES, 137 

and speedily return to London. By this, negotiations were at 
once broken off (15th. April). Soon after a plot was Waller's plot, 
discovered, which had been formed by some of the disappointed 
peace party. Their design was to seize the leaders of the Parlia- 
ment, occupy the military posts, and then admit the royal forces 
into the city (May). 

The intercepted letters by which the plot was discovered im- 
plicated Waller, the poet, a cousin of Hampden, and a member 
of Parliament ; and by his confessions, several others were in- 
volved. But though it was startling to discover the presence of 
traitors within the very walls of the Commons' House, Pym, act- 
ing with his accustomed moderation, did not increase the irrita- 
tion of the friends of peace by pressing uncertain evidence. Out 
of five persons condemned by court-martial, only two were exe- 
cuted. Waller, who had made a most abject submission, was 
allowed to escape with no greater punishment than a fine and a 
short imprisonment. 

Meanwhile, both parties made ready for a second summer's cam- 
paign. The Parliament's officers were divided in counsel. Hamp- 
den advised an immediate advance upon Oxford, but Essex persisted 
in first laying siege to Beading. The war party began Distrast f 
to be doubtful of the zeal of their general, and took Essex - 
little trouble to see that his troops were well supplied with pay 
and clothing. His conduct led men to think that he wished, not 
to reduce the king to the Parliament's mercy, but only to keep up a 
balance of parties and so bring about a peace by negotiation. After 
Edgehill, he had retreated to Warwick, leaving the road to Lon- 
don open to the enemy — a movement several of his officers failed 
to understand. After the action at Brentford, he had refused to 
risk a battle, saying he dared not trust his young and raw recruits. 
Men who wished to conquer would gladly have seen Colonel 
Hampden command in Essex' place. Hampden's regiment of 
green-coats, raised and trained by himself, was known as one of 
the best in the army ; his military genius he had proved unmis- 
takably in many minor actions ; his daring was more likely to lead 
to victory than Essex' caution. But no one ventured to propose 
to displace the earl. All the peace part} r , all the Presbyterians, 
were warmly attached to him, while many noblemen and gentlemen 
would have been averse to serving under any one his inferior m 
rank. 



138 DEATH OF HAMPDEN". [war, 2nd ye, 

But the first and last duty of a general is to win, and he must be 
chosen for no other object. A half-hearted policy ruins an army, 
and either ruins a cause or prolongs the miseries of war. Through 
the hesitation of their aristocratic leader, a series of disasters 
now befell the Parliament's forces. Essex' head-quarters were at 
Thame, a few miles east of Oxford. His army, through disease 
and desertion, had gradually dwindled down to a force of about 
5000 men. Though long urged by Hampden to act boldly on 
the offensive, or at least to concentrate his troops, now too scat- 
tered to be safe, he persisted in maintaining a defensive attitude 
on a weak and extended line. His troops, thus dotted about in 
detachments, were hardly able to defend their own outposts, much 
Essex at l ess the neighbouring counties, against the Cavaliers, 
Thame. w h -weekly, almost nightly, crept out of Oxford to 

burn and plunder villages and manor houses. It was on one of 
these occasions that the Parliament experienced the loss of a 
leader who was not to be replaced. A body of Royalists, com- 
manded by Rupert himself, had surprised a troop at Chinnor 
on the Chilterns, and were bearing off booty and prisoners in 
triumph to Oxford. Colonel Hampden started in pursuit from 
Watlington, and overtook them at Chalgrove Common on their 
way to the bridge over the Thame at Chiselhampton. A sharp 
. skirmish followed. At the first charge two balls 
Hampden entered Hampden's shoulder and broke the bone. A 
(24th June). pr i soner brought the news to Oxford. " I saw him," 
he said, " ride off the field before the action was done, which he 
never used to do, and with his head hanging down, and resting 
his hands upon the neck of his horse" (18th June). Hampden 
only lived for a week more. After receiving the sacrament, he 
prayed with his last breath that the God of hosts would ' have 
'these realms in His special keeping : that He would level in the 
' dust those who would rob the people of their liberty, and would 
' let the king see his error and turn the hearts of his wicked 
1 counsellors from the malice of their designs.' "O Lord, save 
my bleeding country," were almost the last words he spoke. 
His body, carried from Thame to be buried at his native village 
of Hampden, was followed as a hero's to the grave by soldiers with 
heads uncovered, drums and ensigns muffled, arms reversed. The 
grief of soldier and citizen was real enough. As general and as states- 
man Hampden had the true leader's spirit, whose presence inspires. 



1643.] ROYALIST TRIUMPHS IN WEST. 139 

followers with confidence and commands their sympathy by mere 
contact. " The memory of the deceased colonel," says a newspaper 
of the day, " is such that in no age to come but it will more 
and more be had in honour and esteem ; a man so religious, 
and of that prudence, judgment, temper, valour, and integrity, 
that he hath left few his like behind." After two hundred and 
thirty years we can but endorse the verdict. 

It seemed as though all the forces of the Parliament were 
dispirited by Hampden's death. In the north Fairfax, defeated 
by Newcastle at Atherton Moor near Bradford (30th June)., 
was shut up in Hull, so that the eastern counties lay R 0ya ii S t 
open to the approach of the northern ' Papist ' army, successes in 
In the west their successful general, Sir William Waller, west. 
suffered two severe defeats ; in fact, the king's commanders there, 
Prince Maurice and Sir Ealph Hopton, 'the soldier's darling/ 
gained one success on another, until the Parliament lost all its 
hold over the three counties of Devon, Somerset, and Wilts. The 
Cornish peasants and the Cavaliers united overcame all enemies. 
The former would ask their commander's leave to fetch off cannon 
from hills surmounted with breastworks, and dauntlessly perform 
what they proposed — a feat repeated by their Breton brethren at 
La Vendue — the latter would think it play-work to storm defences, 
on which the soldiers of the Parliament would have looked askance. 
Stories went about amongst the terrified garrisons " that the king's 
soldiers made nothing of running up walls twenty feet high, and 
that no works could keep them out." One town after another 
surrendered during the summer and autumn months ; Taunton, 
Bridgewater, Bath (July), Dorchester, Weymouth, Portland, 
Barnstaple, Bideford (August), Exeter (September 4). Prince 
Eupert took Bristol by storm. The governor, Nathaniel Fiennes, 
capitulated without disputing his entrance by a hand to hand 
fight in the streets, though Eupert's losses had been heavy enough 
to warrant the attempt (25th July). It was agreed that the 
garrison should march off with arms and baggage, and B r j s t i 
the townspeople be preserved from plunder and stormed by 
violence. But the Cavaliers, without regard to the 
terms they had made, plundered the waggons belonging to the 
garrison and sacked the city ; and so mercenary, was the spirit of 
some of the Parliament's troops, that they took service in Eu- 
pert's army, and pointed out to their new friends the houses 



140 PEACE PARTY IN LONDON. [wak, 2nd tr. 

where the most valuable plunder might be found. By the middle 
of the summer, Gloucester was the only important city still held 
for the Parliament in the west. 

The news of the surrender of Bristol, the second town in the 
Peace pro- kingdom, caused extreme depression in London. The 
positions House of Lords drew up propositions for peace, the 
most moderate yet brought forward. Both armies were 
to be disbanded ; the militia question was to be settled by a 
future Parliament, the Church by a future synod. After a 
long and fierce debate, the propositions were carried in the 
Commons by a majority of twenty-nine votes (5th Aug.). The 
vote was an act of political suicide, and the war party appealed 
from Parliament to the people, knowing that if Charles returned 
to London on these terms, his word would be no guarantee 
for the performance of his promises. The result was that 
Tumults in * w0 days after the propositions were passed, the 
London. Lord Mayor and Common Council came to the door 
of the Commons to present a petition against peace, followed by 
a tumultuous rabble of several thousands. The demonstration 
succeeded, and the House agreed by a majority of seven to lay 
aside the peace propositions (7th Aug.). 

Two days after this scene had occurred, some hundreds of 
women, wearing white silk ribands in their hats, as an emblem 
of their mission, came to the Commons' House, bearing a counter- 
petition for peace. Four or five members went to the door, and 
telling them that the House was no enemy to peace, ordered them to 
return to their homes. But dissatisfied with this answer, they 
stayed on, and by noon there were some 5000 women, with men 
amongst them dressed in women's clothes, pressing round about 
the house, allowing none to pass in or out, and crying, " Peace, 
peace," " Give us those traitors that are against peace," " Give us 
that dog, Pym." 

The Parliament's guards, after firing powder without dis- 
persing the mob, loaded with ball and shot a ballad-singer 
dead at the moment she was urging her companions on with 
her songs. A troop of cavalry at the same time coming up, 
charged in upon the crowd, slashing with their swords at hands 
and faces, until the women fled on all sides, leaving some seven 
or eight of their number lying wounded or dead upon the ground 
(9th Aug.). The friends of peace, disgusted with such scenes 



1643.] LONDON FORTIFIED. 141 

and with their own defeat, tried to persuade Essex to make 
use of his army in forcing the Parliament to offer proposi- 
tions to the king. But Essex, though he had himself advised the 
Parliament to treat, was too honourable to think of betraying his 
trust, and felt indignant that such a proposal should have been 
made to him. In consequence of his refusal, seven lords and several 
members of the Commons changed sides and went to Oxford.* 

Extreme danger now threatened the Parliament. I] ^ uc< j? s 3 
There was no force between Oxford and London merit. 
to oppose the king's approach, except Essex' wretched army, 
whose thinned ranks had not yet been refilled. The Parliament, 
says May, its own historian, " was then in a low ebb ; and before 
the end of that July, they had no forces at all to keep the 
field, their main armies being quite ruined. Thus seemed the 
Parliament to be quite sunk bej^ond any hope of recovery, and 
was so believed by many men. The king was possessed of all the 
western counties from the farthest part of Cornwall, and from 
thence northward as far as the borders of Scotland. His armies 
were full and flourishing, free to march wherever they pleased, and 
numerous enough to be divided for several exploits." Charles 
judged rightly that the time had come, when one bold stroke 
might finish the war. His plan was conceived with Charles' 
unusual force and spirit. His own and Newcastle's ^archon 
army were to converge on the capital and form a London. 
junction within sight of it. But his generals were jealous of one 
another, and slow to obey even royal commands. Newcastle 
was not inclined to give up the independent authority he had in 
the north, merely to be domineered over by Prince Rupert ; so he 
sent word to Charles, that he could not carry out his orders and 
march through the associated counties upon London, because he 
was sure the gentlemen in his army would refuse to leave York- 
shire unless Hull were first reduced. Meanwhile, the desertion 
of many of the peace party had united the friends of the Par- 
liament, while the extremity of the danger itself inspired them. 
The Londoners were hard at work raising fortifications London 
for the protection of their threatened city. Thousands fortified. 
were to be seen, men and women of every " profession, trade, and 
occupation," marching out daily in a body to dig at their appointed 
place of labour, with colours flying and drums beating before 
* Gar., iv. 175 ; May, 214. 



j42 SIEGE OE GLOUCESTEK. [wae, 2nd tb. 

them. The tailors went out 8000 strong, the watchmen 7000, the 
shoemakers numbered 5000 ; the very oyster women from Billings- 
gate 1000. It was one of those stirring moments when all feel proud 
to labour, and knights, ladies, and gentlemen mightbe seen march- 
in<r out with the crowd, spade and mattock in hand, so that within 
a few weeks a breastwork was raised all round the city for a 
circuit of twelve miles, strengthened by twenty-four forts and 
carrying 212 pieces of cannon.* Before, however, these fortifica- 
tions were fully completed, the citizens breathed more freely. 
Newcastle's aversion to leave Yorkshire brought them a respite 
when their doom seemed fixed. His dislike of the plan, falling in, 
as it did, with the feeling of many of the officers, induced Charles 
^ , to try and make the conquest of the west complete by 

London besieging Gloucester, before marching east. The town 
was known to be badly provided with stores ; every- 
body said it could not hold out long ; and Massey, the governor, 
was suspected of an inclination to desert the side of the Parlia- 
ment. The king summoned the town, fully expecting it would 
surrender at once, but a stern defiance was brought from ' the 
godly city of Gloucester' by two citizens, whose plain garb, close 
cut hair, Scripture phrases, and quiet yet assured demeanour 
marked them out as undoubted Puritans. " Waller is extinct, 
and Essex cannot come," replied Charles, quietly, more surprised 
thau disconcerted at the confidence they displayed, so sure was he 
that the town would be compelled to surrender before the Par- 
liament could find an army for its relief (10th Aug.).f 

Much hung on the resolution of this garrison of 1500 men, who 
possessed but forty barrels of gunpowder and a slender artillery. 
If they yielded, Charles would turn immediately upon the dis- 
heartened and defenceless capital ; if they resisted, the Parlia- 
ment would obtain a breathing time in which to recruit its forces. 
Neither soldiers nor citizens showed any lack of resolution. They 
set on fire the suburbs of the town, in order to deprive the 
Siege of Royalists of shelter while forming their entrenchments. 
loth Aug 6 — They made constant sallies, and met the besiegers' 
5th Sept. mines by counter mines. The women and children 
daily laboured at repairing the breaches, and sallied outunder the 
eyes of the king's horse to fetch in the turf. There was little 

* Somers, Tracts, iv. ; May, 314. 

f May, 218 ; Somers, Tracts, v. ; Clar. Hist., iv. 167. 



1643.] RELIEF OF GLOUCESTER. 143 

complaining heard in the streets, and no disaffection took place 
amongst the garrison. Though constant opportunities "were 
offered by the sallies, only three soldiers deserted. Though the 
country people, whose cattle the Royalists were killing by thou- 
sands through mere wantonness, implored the town to surrender, 
soldiers and citizens endured on, trusting that relief would come to 
them in time. 

" Waller is extinct, and Essex cannot come," Charles, in his 
confidence, had said. But he was wrong. With wonderful speed the 
thinned ranks of the Parliament's army were filled up ; four regi- 
ments of the London train-bands volunteered for the service, and 
Essex left London on the 24th of August at the head E • 
of 14,000 men. He conducted his march with speed relieves 
and dexterity, driving before him a body of horse sent 
by the king to oppose him ; but the besieged had no knowledge 
of the succour which was coming, still less of its whereabouts, 
until, on the 4th of September, they heard the sound of guns 
fired from the Presbury hills. The next morning they saw the 
royal forces withdraw from their trenches, fire their huts, and 
depart. Relief had come but just in time, for the garrison had 
only three barrels of gunpowder left.* 

Essex, after re-supplying Gloucester with provisions March to 
and ammunition, returned eastwards for the protection Newbury, 
of London. The Royalists at first did not know what road he had 
taken, and he succeeded in surprising their garrison at Ciren- 
cester and securing their supplies for himself before pursuit com- 
menced. He had nearly crossed the Wiltshire Downs between 
Swindon and Hungerford, when Rupert and the Cavaliers 
attacked his rear while embarrassed in some deep lanes, near 
Aldbourn Chase, and a sharp skirmish took place, in which the 
Parliamentarians suffered considerable loss. Charles, while 
Rupert delayed the enemy, had pressed on with the infantry by 
forced marches on a more direct road to Newbury, which he 
entered the following day, so that Essex, on approaching it from 
the Hungerford side, found the road to London barred (19th Sept.). 

South of Newbury, which lies low on the banks of the Kennet, 
the ground gradually rises, until, at the distance of about a mile 
from the town, it reaches the level of a long line of hill, running 
east and west, and dividing the beds of the two rivers, the Kennet 
and the Emborne. This high ground was then open commou ; 
* Somcrs, Tracts, v. ; May, 222. 



144 



MAP OF NEWBUEY. 




sept. 20, 1643.] FIRST BATTLE OF NEWBURY. 145 

but the side of the spur sloping down to JN ewbury, as well as 
much of the low ground lying nearer the Kennet, was under cul- 
tivation and crossed by hedgerows. Charles stationed his left 
wing, centre, and artillery upon the brow of the hill, facing west 
towards Eniborne and Hungerford, his right wing only on the 
lower ground in front of Newbury, protected by hedges and 
resting on the Kennet. Aware of the strength of this position, 
he determined, with the advice of his chief officers, to maintain 
a defensive attitude there, and not advance to meet the enemy 
as the more hot-headed subordinates would have liked. The 
Parliamentarians, on the other hand, could have no choice but 
to attack, as the enemy lay between them and their supplies, 
and to attack meant forcing their way up a hillside in the face 
of an artillery fire before they could come to close quarters. 

On seeing the king's tactics, Essex drew up his army upon some 
open ground in front of Eniborne. Two causes compelled him 
to fight at all hazards. The first, that, for the protection of 
London, it was necessary he should make his way through the 
enemy ; the second, that, while delay mattered nothing to the 
king, who could refresh his troops in Newbury, and draw pro- 
visions, if necessary, from his garrisons at Wallingford and Ox- 
ford, it was fatal to himself, lying in the open fields and in an un- 
friendly country. The king, on the other hand, failed to reap the 
advantages of his position ; for he could not secure the obedience 
of his own followers any more than of his Parliament. His own 
wise resolution was broken by the rashness and insubordination 
of his officers, some of whom, despising the London militia, and 
making sure of victory, became so excited at the sight of an enemy 
drawn up for action that they charged impetuously and, the battle 
soon becoming general, obliged their friends to advance for their 
support, leaving much of the artillery behind them on the hill. 
Many of the officers flung off their doublets in bravado, and led on 
their men in their shirts, as if armour was a useless encumbrance 
in dealing with the base-born apprentices, whom they came rather 
to triumph over than to fight. 

Essex' left and the king's right were so impeded by the hedges 
that they could only engage in small parties. The Hedges 
horse, however, on the king's left found a free passage prevent 
down a lane by which Essex had intended to advance deciding 
his right. Essex 5 horse, though at first thrown into the day * 

10 



148 



DEATH OF FALKLAND. [wab, 2nd ye. 



some disorder, soon rallied, and returned the charge of the im- 
petuous Cavaliers. But in an enclosed country as this was the 
cavalry could not have much effect in deciding the day. It was 
the daring and skill of Essex, and the valour of the troops he led 

the very train-bands the Eoyalists despised — that were destined 

to win the laurels of the field. The general, " being foremost in 
person, did lead up the city regiments, and when a vast body of 
the enemy's horse had given so violent a charge, that they had 
broken quite through, he quickly rallied his men together, and 
with undaunted courage did lead them up the hill. In this way 
he did beat the infantry of the king from hedge to hedge, and 
after six hours' long fight planted his ordnance upon the brow of 
the hill. The train-bands of the City of London endured the 
chiefest heat of the day, for being now upon the brow of the 
hill, they lay not only open to the horse but to the cannon of the 
enemy ; yet they stood undaunted and conquerors against all, 
and like a grove of pines, in a day of wind and tempest, they only 
moved their heads, but kept their footing sure." It was on this 
hard-fought day that Lord Falkland met his death. In the 
morning he seemed to have recovered a little of his old cheerful- 
ness, and dressed himself with unusual care, saying, 
Lord u he was weary of his country's misery, and believed he 

Falkland. gh()uld fee Qut of it before nigllt » Though his duties as 

the king's secretary gave him no position in the field, he fought as 
a volunteer at the head of Lord Byron's regiment of horse. This 
was on the right wing, where the ground was cut up by enclosures. 
Byron found his approach to a body of the enemy's infantry im- 
peded by a high quick hedge. A single gap offered a passage 
through, which was so narrow that only one horse could pass at 
a time. The enemy stationed on the other side of the hedge 
were keeping up a hot fire, and as Byron viewed the place his 
horse was shot under him. While he retired to remount, Lord 
Falkland, " more gallantly than advisedly," clapped spurs into 
his horse, and charged through the gap. In an instant horse and 
rider fell dead together.* His end gives us a painful insight into 
the misery the more delicate minds endured during such a time. 
There was do doubt his life had been a burden to him for months. 

* Lord Bvron's account of battle of Newbury, in a letter to Hyde, itt 
MSS. Clar. State Papers in Bodleian, No. 1738. 



1643.] SUCCESS OF ESSEX. 147 

A patriot at heart, lie had chosen his side from chivalry rather 
than from insight ; and, though he followed his king, had no 
sympathy for that policy of ' thorough ' which lay at the root of 
the civil war. 

Darkness at last caused the two armies to separate. Both 
spent the night on the hill, the Eoyalists retiring to the further 
side of it, towards Greenham, and leaving the ground they had 
held in the morning in the hands of the Parliament's infantry. 
Essex fully expected the battle to be renewed the next day, and 
determined to force his way through the enemy or die. But the 
Eoyalists were dispirited. Though the loss of life was not so 
great as might have been expected, it had fallen heavily upon 
men of rank. More than twenty officers, distinguished for birth 
or merit, were among the dead. Such a catastrophe seemed to 
the king's friends in no way compensated by the loss of an equal 
number of obscure Parliamentary colonels. With these feelings 
the Eo}%lists withdrew during the night into New- Royalists 
bury. Essex, finding the way by Greenham open be- ^^ dr& ^ 
fore him, continued his march to Eeading and London.* Newbury. 
Charles, after leaving Newbury, retired to Oxford for marches to 

the winter.f London. 

* Byron's letter to Hyde leaves no doubt that Essex, instead of marching 
through Newbury (as is often stated), kept south of the Kennet. " The next 
morning early, Essex, finding the ground quitted by us, drew his army upon it, 
and there made a bravado in sight of ours, which was then drawn into the 
town of Newbury. Prince Rupert mai*ched with such horse as were nearest to 
him, and fell on the enemy's rear as they marched off. But the country 
being full of enclosures secured them so that no great execution could be 
done upon them before thev recovered Eeading, and thus concluded the 
battle." 

+ May, Long Pari. ; Clar. Hist. ; Rush, Abr., v. ; Account in Harl. Mis- 
cellany ; Lord Byron's letter to Hyde in Clar. Papers in Bodleian, 1738. 



10-2 



CHAPTEK VII. 

EISE OF INDEPENDENTS.— BATTLE OF MAESTON MOOR.— 
SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE.— 1 643— 1 645. 

'Eichictat ttoWu Kai X aA6*rA ^ra oraoiv ralg TroXtm yiyvSjxeva 
Viv Kai del iodpeva hog dv v airrj <picig avOpuirtov V , paMov Si koi 
hvxaiTfoa Kai rolg tldeai dtr,\\ay^va u>q av eKaaraiat perafSoXai tu>v 
LvTvyi&v itbiffTdvTai. lv pkv ydp ap W K ai dya0oi£ rrpayfiaaiv ai 
re TroXae Kai ol ISiSrai dptivovgrdg yvupag l X ov<ri, 6 to. to M eg a<ov- 
aiovc hvdyKCLQ kLittuv. 6 8k TroXepog, <%W Tr,v*i>iropiav tovkcB 
VHipav jS/aioc SiddffKaKoQ mi Trpbg rd irapovra rag opyag tujv ttoXXuv 
c/ioioT.— Thuc. iii. 82. 

The communities of Greece suffered all the embittering results of civil strife 
that visit men, and always will visit them, so long as human nature remains 
the same, though with more or less intensity, and varying in form, accord- 
ing to the specfal circumstances that arise in each case The fact is, that m 
times of peace and prosperity, states alike and individuals form their judg- 
ments in a better spirit from the absence of constraining necessities, while 
war, by besetting daily life with difficulties, teaches violence, and frames men s 
temper to suit then.' surroundings. 

THOUGH the Parliament was saved, the Royalists might fairly 
boast that the balance of success was on their side. In the west 
they had driven their enemies out of every important town but 
Gloucester. In the north, the reduction of Hull would leave 
them masters of the whole of Yorkshire. It might well seem 
that the current of their success would remain unchecked, or that if 
there was a check, they could at any moment win a favourable 
peace by negotiation ; but there were causes at work which made 
either of these results impossible. 

Success did not improve the character of the king's troops. 
Character of Tne cavaliers and omcers were becoming cruel and ra- 
king* ' ' pacious in their habits of warfare ; while the common 
troops. so idiers, often in want of pay, and retained in little 

discipline, followed the example of their leaders, and plundered 
the country people without distinction of friend or foe. Though 



1C43.] "WAE EMBITTERED. 149 

feelings of honour still caused generals and officers to treat pri- 
soners, their own equals in rank, with courtesy if not with gene- 
rosity, the common soldier was too often ruthlessly handed over 
to the care of some inhuman gaoler. Eupert, on one Cruelty to 
occasion, marched prisoners from Cirencester to Ox- prisoners, 
ford, half-clad, bareheaded, barefooted, bound together by cords, 
with gaping wounds still undressed, though there was a cut- 
ting wind and snow on the ground : the king, the two princes, 
and several lords, rode about a mile out of Oxford on purpose to 
see Eupert's prisoners come in ; Charles was observed to smile : 
no words of pity, no order for their relief, passed his lips. If a 
tender-hearted Lord Falkland were by, what wonder he grew 
weary of his life, when such were the acts of his party 1 For 
the captives such marches were but the beginning of misery. 
Prisoners were kept crowded together for months in noisome 
dungeons, and sometimes left two days together without food. 
" I was so hungry," said one prisoner, after making a vain at- 
tempt to cut his throat, " the devil tempted me to cut it and be 
out of my misery."* This cruel usage of prisoners was not con- 
fined to the Eoyalists. The governor of Windsor Castle so 
starved the common soldiers committed to his keeping, that three 
men, it was said, fell down dead in the street on their release. 
Some hypocrites went so far as to parade their brutality as a 
proof of godliness. " My soul abhors to see this favour done to 
the enemies of Cod," said a turn-coat captain, addressing the wife 
of the governor of Nottingham Castle, as she bound up the 
wounds of her Eoyalist prisoners. Tales such as these, sayings 
ascribed to Puritans or Cavaliers, not to mention the harrowing 
details of battles and sieges — all these were published weekly, 
almost daily, in papers and pamphlets, and spread broadcast over 
the kingdom. No story was too foul or false to be refused a 
place in these publications. For instance, the Mercurius Aulicus, 
the chief Oxford paper, selecting domestic grief as an instance of 
God's judgments, after relating in a tone of exultation that 
death had deprived Hampden of his two eldest children, added 
gratuitously the lie that of his two remaining sons, the one was a 
cripple, the other a lunatic, t Slander thus did its part with 
violence and cruelty in embittering the feelings of men who, in 

* Somers, Tracts, iv. 510, 532. f Eorster, ii. 353. 



150 RELIGIOUS ANIMOSITY. |wab, 2nd ye. 

the outset of the war, had felt almost as friends. Religious ani- 
mosity helped to broaden the gulf. Ministers especially suffered. 
If they refused to read out the king's declarations, where the 
kin** had power, or the Parliament's declarations, where it had 
Sufferings of power, they had to fly their parishes to escape iinpri- 
ciergy. sonment. Thus deprived of home and livelihood, 

Puritans and Episcopalians had no choice but to take refuge with 
the nearest friendly garrison or come to regiments as chaplains. 
As they suffered most, they hated most. It was not bad usage 
only; as wars go on, the questions which touch men's hearts most 
deeply come more and more to the front. The church question 
was one of these, and one on which the ministers could not but 
feel deeply. So it was that the religious influence which should 
have tempered the bitterness of faction, gave its sanction to acts 
breathing more of the Old Testament than the New ; and those 
who should have been the mediators taught that any parleying 
with the foe was treason against God. Thus the demands of the 
Parliamentarians increased, and there was no basis for negotia- 
tion, unless Charles would consent not simply to lessen the 
power of bishops, but to establish a non-Episcopal church. 
Through Scottish influence, Parliament had already summoned 
to London an assembly of divines to settle uniformity of 
Assembly of worship for the two countries. This, of course, simply 
divines. meant to discuss the means for the establishment of 
the Presbyterian Church in England (1st July). The bishops 
had completely lost all influence in the country, and as far as 
that went, Episcopacy was already dead. London was quite 
changed from the time when a gay court was held at Whitehall, 
London a when Laud lived at Lambeth, when cavaliers daily 
Puritan city visited the artillery gardens, when crowds frequented 
the theatres. The grass was already growing in the courts of White- 
hall ;* Lambeth Palace was deserted, and was soon to be used as a 
prison. In the artillery gardens, once so gay, grave citizens now 
learnt the use of pike and musket ; the theatres were all closed 
by order of Parliament (September 2nd, 1642). Services, preach- 
ings, and fasts had taken the place of the old bonfires, dances, 
and feasts. The book of sports had been burnt by the com- 
mon hangman by another order of Parliament (5th May, 1643). 

* Scotsman's letter in Somers Tracts, v. 



1643.] PRESBYTERIAN INTOLERANCE. 151 

Services were no more conducted with vestments and postures, 
lighted candles, and choirs. The wearing of any vestment was 
become a matter of indifference ; the liturgy was read or prayers 
extemporized as minister and congregation pleased ; organs, 
images, altars, were gone from churches. The beautiful old 
crosses, remains of Catholic times, and still left standing in the 
streets, were removed by order of Parliament. Presbyterians re- 
joiced to see bonfires made of " fine pictures of Christ and the 
saints, of relics, beads, and the like remains of Catholic supersti- 
tion."* 

The gaming houses were put down, and laws and ordinances 
for the punishment of vicef so strictly enforced, that no swearing 
was to be heard, no drunken man to be seen in the streets. 
Everybody led, or affected to lead, a life of strictness ; for he 
who failed to attend some place of worship, or in public swore or 
drank, was looked upon as a reprobate, and could not hope to exer- 
cise any influence amongst his fellows. Sundays were no longer 
holidays of pleasure, but were strictly spent in religious services. 
In the evening men might pass through the town, and hear nothing 
but the voice of prayer and praise, from private houses as from 
churches. J No fruiterer or herb woman dared stand about and 
sell in the streets ; no milk- woman cry her milk on that day, but 
at stated hours ; no one but travellers by necessity might be re- 
ceived in taverns. Even if a child danced round a maypole, its 
parents were fined twelvepence for the offence. Fast days were ob- 
served after each success or failure, and, soon after the breaking out 
of the Irish rebellion, an order of Parliament was issued, enacting 
that the last Wednesday in every month should be kept regularly 
as a solemn fast and day of humiliation (8th January, 1642). 

The Presbyterians, who now ruled, regarding as they did 
their own as the true church coeval with the early p resby . 
ages of Christianity, Were unwilling to tolerate any terian in- 
other worship, and had they possessed the power 
would have been as despotic as the bishops. As it was, they per- 
secuted as far as they dared. They hunted out Catholic priests, 
and put to death on an average about three a year ;§ others they 
-sent into banishment or left to die in prison. To keep under the 

* Birch, ii. 355 ; Baillie, i. 425. f Neal. ii. 606. 

X Neal, ii. 503 ; iii. 37. § Lingard, viii. 35, 323. 



152 NEW POLITICAL KEFORMEKS. [wab, 2nd ye; 

sectarians, they tried to restrain the liberty of the press by pass- 
in^ an ordinance for the suppression of slanderous papers and 
pamphlets (11th June). But the sectarians were now too numer- 
ous to be crushed, and could disobey the ordinance with impunity. 
Ideas grow rapidly in times of revolution. The habit of private 
judgment grows still more rapidly. The very means by which 
the popular leaders have carried the mass to their point of view, 
soon carry it beyond them. The pamphlets of the Presbyterians 
and Episcopalians had made the people controversialists ; and in 
many cases undermined the authority of the teachers who had 
converted them. The same phenomenon occurred in the region of 
political strife. The war of words, bandied between patriots 
and Royalists, discussing the rights of King and Parliament, had 
familiarized the people with the discussion of constitutional 
questions. When such questions are left to popular discussion 
moderation is soon lost ; violent opinions grow apace, and the 
claims of custom and prescription evaporate, like 
cai reform- subtler elements, in that rough crucible. Out of 
ers- the ranks of the sectarians arose a new set of poli- 

tical reformers, who no longer ascribed the divisions existing 
between King and Parliament to evi] counsellors, but spoke of 
Charles as personally in fault. Some went further. A pamphlet 
was published, saying that if the king did not yield to what was 
demanded of him, he and his race ought to be destroyed, 
Henry Marten, one of the Independent party, defended the 
writer in the Lower House. " I see no reason," he said, " to con- 
demn him ; it is better one family should be destroyed than 
many." " I move," said another member, " that Mr. Marten be 
ordered to explain what one family he means." " The king and 
his children," replied the Republican boldly. The use of such 
language horrified the Presbyterians, and Marten was for some 
time expelled the House. 

It was evident that there was an advanced party with whom 
the Presbyterians were as much at issue as they were with the 
Royalists. But the presence of a common danger checked a schism 
for the time. The Presbyterians still far outnumbered all other 
sections on their side, and the misfortunes that befell the arms of 
the Parliament in this summer of 1643, made the Independents 
not merely rally to them, but agree to call in the aid of Scotland 
on terms which would require the establishment of the national 



1643.] SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. 153 

church of the north. The interest of the Scots was really 
identical with that of the English Presbyterians, for if Charles 
and Episcopacy were restored together, Scotland would not long 
be allowed to retain her own form of worship. They tried, 
therefore, to bind their allies down by prescribing a solemn league 
and covenant (August). Subscribers to this document 
bound themselves : (1.) To endeavour to reform religion league and 
in England and Ireland according to the Word of God, covenailt - 
and practice of the best reformed churches, and to bring the 
three churches in the three k ngdoms to uniformity in confession 
of faith, form of church government, and directory or prayer- 
book for worship ; (2.) To extirpate Popery, prelacy, schism ; 
(3.) To preserve the liberties of the kingdom, the king's 
person and authority, and to bring malignants to punishment ; 
(4.) To assist and defend all such as should enter into the cove- 
nant. All civil and military officers, all ministers holding livings, 
and all members of Parliament were required to take the cove- 
nant. Thus Episcopalian representatives were obliged to leave the 
Assembly of Divines, and over 1500 ministers resigned their livings. 
Union in a State must of course necessitate many sacrifices of 
the individual. A subject must often be required to give a passive 
submission, and sometimes an active co-operation, to acts of which 
he does not approve. There are two limits to such interference. 
Firstly, it should be confined, as far as possible, to political as 
distinguished from religious duties, since it is only when religious 
questions have taken a political form that they can lead to the dis- 
ruption of the State ; and further, in political matters covenant a 
the duty of bowing to the majority is more clear, and test - 
the conscience less tender, than in cases which seem to touch the 
intercourse of man with his Maker. Secondly, the interference 
should be limited to overt acts as distinguished from opinions ; if 
a man does what is required by the law, he should not be required 
to make a declaration of his feelings. Such a requirement is 
simply inquisitorial, and generally defeats its own ends, by en- 
couraging either open defiance, or a disregard of the sanctity of 
oaths. The Presbyterian system recognized no such limits to in- 
terference. Some of the Independents, indeed, had learnt the 
lesson of a higher duty, and strove earnestly to make the league 
with Scotland a political league only, and not a religious covenant ; 
in fact, Sir Henry Vane, had power been in his hands, would ha /e 



254 DEATH OF PYM. [wab, 2nd yb 

been ready to grant toleration even to Catholics. The Scots, how- 
ever were impracticable, and all Yane could do was to procure 
the insertion of the ambiguous words "to endeavour the reforma- 
tion of religion according to the Word of God and the best re- 
formed churches." These words, though, when taken in connection 
with their context, they obviously referred to the Presbyterian 
Church, yet served as a loophole for the Independents in the army, 
the Parliament, and the Assembly of Divines, who subscribed in 
numbers to a test which was intended to eliminate them. The 
2nd clause left the Episcopalians no such opening, yet many 
Failure of followed the example of the Independents, putting 
test Cove- gome forced meaning on the words to suit their own 

nant sub- & . 

scribed to consciences. Such laxity of conscience must not be too 
pendente, severely censured. In these cases the real guilt lies rather 
on those who induce hypocrisy than on those who practise it. The 
determination of successive governments to exact oaths of fidelity 
to themselves resulted finally in a general relaxation of the 
moral fibre of the nation. 

For the time, however, the power of the Presbyterians seemed 
to have overwhelmed the Independents. Four Scotch ministers 
were admitted into the Assembly of Divines ; a Scotch army was 
engaged to enter England early in the ensuing spring ; and 
Scotch commissioners were joined with a committee of the two 
Houses, who sat in the capital at Derby House to direct the 
operations of the war. 

Causes of ^ n s pite, however, of Scotch support, the ascendancy 

decline of f the Presbyterians was already on the decline ; for 
rian ascen- though superior in position and in numbers, their leaders 
dancy. were no match for the Independents in ability. Hamp- 

den's death had been a blow to the moderate party. Pym, like 
Hampden, had possessed the trust of both parties, of Indepen- 
dents, because of the vigour with which he had prosecuted the 
war, and of Presbyterians because he seemed to acquiesce in their 
Death of views of church matters, and had agreed with them 

Pym (Stb. ... 

Dec). politically in advocating a limited monarchy. Himself 

sincere, yet no bigot, he had long kept the peace between the 
intolerant Presbyterians and Independents. His death now 
came after a short illness, in which he preserved his usual calmness 
of temper, telling his chaplain "that it was a most indifferent 
thing to him to live or die ; if he lived, he would do what service 



1643.] ARMY OF INDEPENDENTS. 155 

he could ; if he died, he would go to God whom he had served, 
and who would carry on his work by others *' (8th Dec). 

In Oxford bonfires were lighted the night the news came that 
Pym was dead, and the Cavaliers "drank deeper healths than usual 
to the confusion of the Soundheads." In London there was real 
sorrow among all parties. The Commons paid off a sum of 
.£10,000, the amount of debts their great leader had incurred in 
his country's service, and erected a monument in his honour in 
"Westminster Abbey. 

The political reformers, who hitherto had implicitly followed 
Pym, now drifted to the right or the left, and either became 
absorbed in the ranks of the Presbyterians, or passed over to the 
new men who were now rising into influence. Thus after Pym's 
death the breach with the Independents widened rapidly, and the 
Presbvterians were soon in a false position. Obliged F alse posi- 

.,.-,, . tion of Pres- 

to continue the war, because the kmg refused to grant byterians. 

them the establishment of their Church, they were, at the same 

time, afraid of winning a decisive victory, which they saw would 

only encourage the sectarians and men of new ideas in politics. 

On the other hand, the Independents desired nothing more than 

to crush the king's forces, and so bring the war to a speedy end. 

They were already in possession of a force fitted, if any, Eastern ( 

for the accomplishment of the task. Cromwell, lieu- army. 

tenant-general of the horse to the Earl of Manchester, had been 

very active in forming a new army, raised by order of Parliament 

in the eastern counties. He had long seen that Essex and 

"Waller's half-hearted soldiers were not the men to gain great 

victories. "Your troops," he said one day to Hampden, "are 

most of them old decayed serving men, and tapsters, and such 

kind of fellows ; their troops are gentlemen's sons, younger sons, 

and persons of quality ; do you think that the spirits of such base 

and mean fellows will ever be able to encounter gentlemen, that 

have honour and courage and resolution in them ; you must get 

men of a spirit ; and take it not ill what I say — I know you will 

not — of a spirit that is likely to go as far as gentlemen will go — 

or else you will be beaten still." Hampden thought the notion 

good, but impracticable. Cromwell undertook to put it into 

practice. He sought out soldiers amongst the more independent 

classes, the sons of freeholders and artisans, sectarians, Cromwell's 

who fought not for pay and plunder, but with the Ironsides. 



156 



CHAELES' IEISH TEOOPS. [wae, 3kd te, 



higher motive of winning liberty to worship God according to 
their own fashion. From the very first, when Cromwell only 
commanded a troop of horse in Essex' army, it was observed that 
his men were of a different stamp to their fellow-soldiers. They 
did not plunder or drink ; he who swore paid his twelvepence ; 
he who drank was put in the stocks. And now Cromwell was 
forming a whole army on the same principles, not heeding to what 
despised sect his recruits belonged, so long as they proved good 
soldiers. " I raised such men," he boasted long afterwards, " as 
had the fear of God before them, as made some conscience of what 
they did, and from that time forward, I must say, they were 
never beaten, and wherever they were engaged against the 
enemy, they beat continually." The valour of the troops thus 
raised was early attested by their popular name of " The Iron- 
sides." 

The rise of the Independents created no alarm at Oxford, as 
Charles expected to reap a new advantage from the divisions of 
his enemies. He exulted, moreover, in having found a fresh 
means of increasing the strength of his own armies. 

Since the rebellion broke out in 1641, the war in Ireland had 
Cessation of been carried on with great success on the part of the 
Irish. Catholics, and a Catholic council of twenty-four persons 

established at Kilkenny now ruled the larger part of the kingdom. 
The old English settlers at the head of this party were, however, 
now eager to make peace with the king, and caused numerous 
petitions to be sent to Oxford, begging for the free exercise of the 
Catholic worship, and the calling of a Parliament. Charles, 
making no absolute promises, agreed to a cessation of arms for a 
year, and then ordered the Duke of Ormond, his general in Ire- 
land, a devoted and able Koyalist, to send over to England ten 
regiments of the troops that had hitherto been engaged in fight- 
ing Irish rebels. 

This truce with the Irish Catholics excited indignation not only 
amongst Charles' enemies, but also amongst his Protestant friends. 
It was believed that many rebels were to be found among the regi- 
ments sent over by Ormond. " The queen's army," it was com- 
monly said, " of French and Walloon Papists, the king's army of 
English Papists, together with the Irish rebels, are to settle the 
Protestant religion, and the liberties of England."* 

* May, Brev.; Whitelock. 



1644.] ARMIES OF KING AND PARLIAMENT. 157 

Hyde suggested to the king that, in order to make his cause 
more popular with the nation, which reverenced the very word 
' Parliament/ he should summon to sit at Oxford oxford 
those members whom fear had driven from West- Parliament, 
jninster. Charles unwillingly consented ; he feared the proposed 
assembly would force peace on him, and so mar the success he 
hoped from the new accession to his forces. His fears proved cor- 
rect. This body, though it was Eoyalist, showed a strong dislike 
to certain of the council, as Papists, and as having been the old 
instruments of tyranny. They even showed some suspicion of 
the king's own intentions ; and, in fact, this half Parliament was 
evidently inclined to make peace with its other half at "West- 
minster. All overtures, however, proved nugatory, for "the 
Lords and Commons" of the Long Parliament refused to hold any 
communication with the king while he spoke of the Oxford as- 
sembly as on an equality with themselves. After a three months' 
session, Charles gladly adjourned the Parliament of his friends 
(16th April), which he described, in writing to his wife, as " this 
mongrel assembly, the haunt of cowardly and seditious motions." 

When hostilities re-commenced, the Parliament had Armies 
no less than five armies afoot ; the army of Lord Fair- of the 
fax, now moving freely in Yorkshire, as the siege of 
Hull had been raised by the advance of the Scots ; that of Essex, 
now being recruited in London after its successes at Gloucester 
and Newbury ; that of Waller, now reinforced after its expulsion 
from the west ; the eastern counties' army, under the command of 
Cromwell and Manchester ; and, lastly, the army of the Scots, 
21,000 strong, commanded by a Scotchman, Leslie, Earl of Leven. 

Charles had two large armies — his own, at Oxford, Armies 
of 10,000 men ; that of Newcastle, in Yorkshire, of of the 
14,000 men ; besides several considerable forces scat- 
tered over the country, and regiments of English and Irish 
troops landing from time to time in Wales, and at Chester and 
Bristol. 

The Parliament had laid on the country heavy taxes Taxes, 
for the maintenance of its armies. Custom duties were levied on 
various articles of export and import. An ordinance had been 
passed for a weekly assessment of ,£10,000 on London, and of 
£24,000 on the rest of the kingdom. This tax, like the sub- 
sidy, was levied on lands and goods, but not after the same 



158 SIEGE OF OXFORD. [war, 3ed tk. 

fashion. The subsidies had been levied after an old rate, and 
by commissioners appointed by the Chancellor from amongst the 
inhabitants of the county or borough. Through the laxity of 
these commissioners the receipts had steadily decreased. Now a 
specific sum was laid upon each county, and raised by com- 
missioners named by Parliament. By further ordinances, the ex- 
cise duty, a tax hitherto unknown in England, was introduced, 
which consisted of a tax on the manufacture of commodities as 
distinct from the custom duties on their importation, and as 
touching home rather than foreign produce. The ignorant always 
prefer customs to excise, because the incidence of the former is 
less visible ; but the objection to customs is that they take much 
more out of the pocket of the consumer than they bring to the ex- 
chequer. Customs, being mainly levied on raw produce, have to- 
be paid by the merchant ; his payment has to be recouped by the 
manufacturer and the dealers, besides other intermediaries, all of 
whom require a profit on the money sunk in the payment of the 
tax. Excise, being levied on the last stage before sale, is, there- 
fore, a more economical tax. The Dutch had employed it before 
this, but its introduction into England was due to the genius of 

Pym. 

Such excise was now laid upon many articles of every-day use 
and consumption ; upon ale, cider, perry, wine, oil, sugar, pepper, 
salt, silk, soap, and even meat (May, 1643 — July, 1644). Counties 
under the power of the Eoyalists were no better off than those 
under the power of the Parliament. The Oxford Parliament 
copied that of "Westminster, and laid on an excise ; irregular contri- 
butions were constantly levied by the king's troops, and his whole 
army, when unpaid, as it now often was, lived at free quarters. 

The committee of the two nations, sitting at Derby House, 
directed the movements of the generals. Fairfax, Manchester, 
and Lesley received instructions to attack Newcastle's army, and 
lay siege to York ; Essex and Waller to invest Oxford. When 
it was known within Oxford that a siege was impending, 
Discontent faction and discontent broke all bonds of control., 
in Oxford. Money was getting scarce, and . everybody was out of 
humour. The queen took fright, and departed for Exeter, bid- 
ding Charles her last farewell. Courtiers grumbled, and con- 
sidered themselves neglected. The officers wanted to govern 
everything, and quarrelled with the civilians in the council. The 



1644.] BATTLE OF CEOPEEDY BELDGE. 1-50 

number of Papists in the town annoyed many of the king's Pro- 
testant friends. Charles was incapable of silencing discontent and 
making men work together. He had no faculty for putting the 
right man into the right place. Promotion went by caprice or im- 
portunity. His officers quarrelled with one another for command. 
In fact it was a reign of jealousy before ; and now, to gratify his 
nephews Rupert and Maurice, he displaced and offended some of 
the best and most trustworthy of his servants. 

Oxford was already nearly invested, when Charles, by a skilful 
manoeuvre, saved both his army and the town. At the dead of 
night, accompanied by his cavalry and 2500 foot, he passed un- 
discovered between the two armies of Essex and Waller (3rd 
June), and proceeded by quick marches to Worcester, and thence 
across the Severn to Bewdley. Rupert, in command of his 
Cavaliers and some of the troops which had been sent over from 
Ireland, was now in Lancashire, engaged in reducing the fortified 
places which were held for the Parliament. But Charles, hearing 
that Newcastle — who was closely besieged in York — could not hold 
out for six weeks longer unless relieved, sent orders to Rupert to 
march straight to York and relieve it by engaging the Scots. 

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary leaders, as soon as they became 
aware of Charles' escape, agreed that Waller and his army should 
pursue the royal forces, while Essex and his army reduced the 
towns in the west. Waller thought the king was making for 
Lancashire to join Rupert, and so kept ahead of him on the 
eastern bank of the Severn. But Charles' plan was much bolder ; 
on hearing the Parliament's forces were divided, his aim was to re- 
gain his head-quarters immediately and attack before his enemies 
could re-unite. With this view he crossed the river behind Waller, 
and on the 20th June was again in Oxford. Without giving any 
time for Essex to reappear, he marched out at once at the head 
of his whole army, and soon fell in with Waller, who, on hearing 
of his movements, had returned in haste to cover the road to 
London. The two armies were in sight of one another as they 
marched northwards from Banbury, Charles being on the eastern, 
Waller on the western, bank of the Cherwell. 

About midday, Waller, observing that the rear of Battle of 
the king's army was some distance behind the main B^dg^ 7 
body, forced a passage across Cropredy Bridge, and (Map, p. 127.) 
fell upon it in front, while at the same time he sent a body of 



i60 MAKSTON MOOK. [wae, Sed ye. 

horse to make their way over a ford about a mile lower down 
the river. Charles, seeing his rear about to be attacked on two sides, 
at once recalled his advanced troops, and a succession of skir- 
mishes followed, in which the Koyalists were generally victorious, 
takino- several pieces of cannon, and beating the enemy back both 
over the ford and the bridge. Fighting lasted until night caused 
the two armies to separate. The action in itself might have been 
called indecisive, but the king gained all the advantages of a vic- 
tory, for death and desertion soon reduced Waller's army to half 
its numbers. 

Three clays after the battle of Cropredy Bridge, the eastern 
counties' army was brought into action in Yorkshire. It was 
supporting the Scots in besieging York ; but the generals of the 
Parliament, on hearing that Eupert was marching from Lanca- 
shire with 20,000 men to raise the siege, withdrew from their 
entrenchments to Hessay Moor in order to oppose his approach 
(30th June). The prince, however, disappointed their expecta- 
tions, for instead of following the high road from Knaresborough, 
over Skip Bridge, he crossed the Ouse with his army above its 
junction with the Nidd, and entered York the same evening 
without opposition (1st July). 

As Eupert had already effected his object in relieving the town, 
Newcastle wished to avoid, or at least delay a battle ; urging 
in the first place that divisions would probably break out in the 
enemy's army, composed as it was of Scots and English, Presby- 
terians and Independents, in the second, that he was expecting 
a reinforcement of 3000 men, and that no battle ought to be 
fought until after their arrival. But Eupert, confident of victory, 
put forward the king's letter : " I have his Majesty's commands," 
he said ; u I am bound to fight." " I am ready to obey your High- 
ness," replied Newcastle, " as if the king himself were here." 
The prince's army was encamped a few miles to the north of 
York, and it was agreed that Newcastle's foot should be ready by 
two o'clock at night to march out and unite with it. Their 
sudden and unlooked-for deliverance seemed, however, for the 
time to have demoralized the York forces. Some of the soldiers 
were out seeking for booty in the deserted trenches of the enemy ; 
others were already drawn together, when a report spread that 
before marching they were to receive their pay; at once the men 
broke from their ranks and dispersed, and some hours elapsed be- 



2ND jult, 1644.] POSITION OF FAIRFAX. 161 

fore they could be gathered together again.* Eupert rode out of 
the town at daybreak, without waiting for Newcastle,f and pro- 
ceeded to lead his army across the Ouse at Poppelton, where the 
Scots had left standing a bridge of boats (2nd July). 

The counsels of the Parliament's generals were, like those of the 
Eoyalists, divided. The English were for seeking out the enemy 
and- fighting, but the Scots proposed to retreat to Cawood, where, 
by forming a tete-de-pont to defend the bridge at the junction of 
the branches of the Ouse, they might oppose Rupert's further ad- 
vance south. The Scots' counsel prevailed, and the army drew off 
from Hessay Moor southwards, in the direction of Tadcaster : 
those in the van had already advanced some miles, when it was 
attacked in the rear by Rupert's horse at Marston village and 
forced hastily to turn and form in order of battle. 

Both Hessay and Marston Moors form part of a low plain, 
watered by the Ouse and the Nidd. Drainage and tillage have 
now changed the character of a tract that was then in the main 
really moor, open and unenclosed. Immediately south of the 
road that joins Tockwith and Marston, the dead level ends, and 
an easy ascent of ten minutes leads to the summit of a line 
of higher ground, running from one village to the other. The 
Parliamentarians on the first attack promptly faced about to the 
north, and formed upon the brow of this hill, on Marston Field, 
a large enclosure with crops of rye then dotted over it. Their 
right wing, consisting of Sir Thomas Fairfax' regiments of horse 
and foot, together with the larger part of the Scotch horse, and a 
reserve of Scottish infantry, occupied a position immediately west 
of Marston village, where the elevation is highest. Their main 
battle was composed of Scotch and English infantry, commanded 
by Lords Leven and Manchester and Sir Thomas's father, Lord 
Fairfax. Still farther west, resting on the village of Tockwith, 
where the hill is much lower than at Marston, was the left wing, 
comprised of three regiments of Scottish cavalry and the eastern 
counties' horse, under the command respectively of David Leslie 

* There is a curious account of the ' battle of York ' {i.e., Marston Moor) in 
the Clarendon State Papers at Oxford. The writing is in the same hand as a 
paper printed in the Clar. State Papers, ii. p. 181, which is endorsed by 
Hyde, ' Sir Hugh Cholmeley's Memorials.' The writer, whoever he is, tells 
us" he received his account ' from a gentleman of quality of that country who 
was a colonel and had a command there and present all the time.' The other 
accounts of the battle given by eye-witnesses are nearly all written by Parlia- 
mentarians. 

t William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle (p. 131), now Marquis. 




stuu He Ssa: \» Poppleton 

• -Moor V__ 

lth Maraton ^^©, 




0' J W^ ■" 



" — - __'- H.vs.. under Fairfii: 




<s> 



; ii 



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W/?. 



m 




/ 



2nd jult, 1644.] POSITION OF ROYALISTS. 163 

and Lieutenant-General Cromwell. Its outer flank was sup- 
ported by a body of Scotch dragoons. 

Rupert, who was following from the north-east, finding that his 
enemies were facing about to accept battle, formed his army upon 
Marston Moor, awaiting meanwhile impatiently the arrival of 
the York forces. After some delay the marquis, " accompanied 
with all the gentlemen of quality which were in York, came to the 
prince, who said, ' My lord, I wish you had come sooner with 
your forces, but I hope we shall yet have a glorious day/ The 
marquis informed him how his foot had been a-plundering in the 
trenches, and that it was impossible to have got together all at 
the time fixed, but that he had left General King about the work, 
who would bring them up with all the expedition that might be. 
The prince, seeing the marquis' foot were not come up, would with 
Jiis own forces have been falling upon the enemy, but the marquis 
dissuaded him, telling him that he had 4000 good foot as were in 
the world coming. About four o'clock in the afternoon General King 
brought up the marquis' foot, of which yet many were wanting, 
for there was not above 3000. The prince demanded of King 
how he liked the marshalling of his army, who replied, he did 
not approve of it, being drawn too nsar the enemy and in a 
place of disadvantage. Then said the prince, ' They may be 
drawn a farther distance. 5 'No, sire,' said King, 'it is too late.'" 

The two armies were drawn up so close together that "their 
foot," says a Parliamentarian, " was close to our noses." Rupert 
had been beforehand in gaining possession of a deep ditch that 
ran in a straight line between them. In this he placed four 
bodies of musketeers opposite the eastern counties' army. His 
right wing he led in person. Newcastle's foot fell into position 
on the extreme left of the main body, which was placed under 
the command of General King ; the left wing was com- 
manded by Colonel Goring. A few fields cut up the moor on 
this side, so that the only approach for the horse on the enemy's 
right lay up a narrow lane with a hedge on one side and a 
ditch on the. other, both lined with dismounted dragoons. All 
along the line waved banners magnificent with gold and silver 
fringes. Here a red pennon with a white cross, and motto, ' Pro 
rege et regno ;' there a black coronet and sword reaching from the 
clouds, ' Terribilis ut acies ordinata ;' while far on the right the 
presence of the prince was marked by a standard nearly five yards 

11—2 



IM MARSTON MOOR, [wab, 3ed yb. 

long and broad, with a red cross in the centre. Each army was 
nearly 23,000 strong, so that never before in the course of the 
war had such large forces met face to face. The Parliamentarians 
wore as their mark a white paper or handkerchief in their hats ; 
their word for the day was • God with us.' The Royalist mark 
was to be without bands or scarfs ; their word ' God and the king. 3 

Since two o'clock the cannon had been booming, but still the 
two armies delayed to join battle. The Parliament's generals, 
trusting in Rupert's proverbial daring, waited for him to disorder 
his lines by being the first to charge across the ditch. Their 
soldiers meanwhile ' fell to singing psalms/ a sign that they at 
least were nerved and ready for any odds. 

When the forces from York had at last arrived, Rupert's im- 
petuosity was restrained by the representations of Newcastle and 
King, both of whom were averse to fighting because of the late- 
ness of the hour. He declared accordingly his intention of delay- 
ing the battle till the next day, ordered provisions to be brought 
for his army from York, and with most culpable neglect suffered 
many of his horsemen to dismount and lie on the ground, with 
their horses' bridles in their hands. 

But that long summer's day was not so to end. It was already 
seven o'clock when Leven, who acted as commander-in-chief, find- 
ing that the enemy would not charge him, determined to charge 
them, and ordered the whole line of his army to advance. " We 
came down the hill," says Oliver's scout-master, " in the bravest 
order, and with the greatest resolution — I mean the left wing of 
our horse, led by Cromwell, which was to charge their right wing, 
led by Rupert, in which was all their gallant men." At the sound 
of the enemy's alarums, the prince in hot haste sprung to horse 
and galloped up to the front of the field. He found his own regi- 
ment taken by surprise, and in some disorder. " 'Swounds !" he 
cried, " do you run — follow me !" and fiercely led the way to 
meet the enemy's charge. Meanwhile Manchester's foot, in the 
face of a fierce fire, dashed down the hill at a bit of level, where 
there was a break in the ditch, and thus taking the Royalist mus- 
keteers in flank, drove them out of their shelter. A desperate 
struggle ensued. The horsemen discharged their pistols, and then, 
flinging them at one another's heads, fell to with their swords. A 
company of Cavaliers, led by Rupert in person, charged Crom- 
well's own division of three hundred horse in front and flank. A 



2nd jult, 1644.] ROUT OF FAIRFAX* WING. 1C5 

shot grazed the lieutenant's-general's neck. "A miss is as good as 
a inile," he exclaimed, and, scattering his assailants before him 
"like a little dust," pressed onwards till he broke through the 
lines of the enemy. " Manchester's foot, on the right hand, went 
on by our side," says Oliver's scout-master again, " dispersing the 
enemy's foot almost as fast as they charged them, still going by 
our side, cutting them down that we carried the whole field be- 
fore us, thinking the victory wholly ours, and nothing to be done 
but to kill and take prisoners." Soon Rupert's whole wing, horse 
and foot, was in full flight, and the Cavaliers were swept off the 
field, flying northwards " along by Wilstrop woodside as fast and 
thick as could be." 

Meanwhile the Parliament's troops on the right wing found 
their advance impeded by the hedge and ditch which protected 
the enemy's left. They could only march up the lane three or 
four abreast, and were exposed all the while to a hot fire from the 
musketeers stationed by Rupert on either side. After forcing 
their way to the open ground at the end of the lane, they were 
received by large bodies of the enemy, who fell upon each party 
as it emerged. Fairfax, indeed, in face of all difficulties, charged 
right through Goring's squadrons, at the head of four hundred 
horse. But finding himself left unsupported, he was fain to take 
the white handkerchief out of his hat, and pass for a Royalist com- 
mander while he rode hastily back to his own side. 

Meantime his van, composed of newly-levied regiments, had 
wheeled round before the enemy, and disordered his own in- 
fantry and the Scots' reserve, so that on his return, he found his 
whole wing broken and already in flight. Some of the Cavaliers, 
with their usual impetuosity, pursued the flying enemy over 
the hill which shut out their view of the field, and miles on 
to the south in the direction of Cawood and Tadcaster ; others 
tarried to plunder the carriages and baggage left by the Parlia- 
mentarians on the top of the hill ; others under the command of 
Goring joined Newcastle's regiment of "Whitecoats, and wheeled 
round on the unprotected right flank of the enemy's centre. 
Thus attacked in front and flank, the Scots' infantry on this side 
gave way. In vain Leven exhorted his men to stand. " Though 
you run from your enemies," he cried, "yet leave not your 
general." Believing the battle to be lost, he joined the stream 
of fugitives, and never drew rein until he came to Leeds. 



166 



MARSTON MOOB. [war, 3ed ye. 



Thepenerei Tne confusion was not confined to the Parliament side, 
confusion - « t k ne w not for my soul," says one who was there look- 
an°ey?- ° ing for Rupert, " whither to incline : runaways on both 
witness. s i ( i es? s0 man y ? so breathless, so speechless, not a man 
of them able to give me the least hope where the prince was to 
be found, both armies being mingled, horse and foot. In this 
terrible distraction did I scour the country, here meeting with a 
shoal of Scots crying out, ' Wae's us, we're a' undone !' then with 
a ragged troop, reduced to four and a cornet, by-and-by with a 
little foot-officer, without hat, band, or anything but feet." 

It is a time of confusion such as this that gives an opening for 
the calm and collected officer who has his men well in hand. 
Half the Royalist left wing were far away, triumphantly driving 
the blow home, as they thought, by a hot pursuit. Goring had 
only Newcastle's Whitecoats and a sprinkling of his own Cava- 
liers, when the fading light revealed to him a new enemy occu- 
pying the very ground he had himself held in the morning. 
Cromwell -^ was tne Parliament's left wing, led by Cromwell 
redeems and Leslie ; who, after disi^ersing the Royalist right, 
had relinquished pursuit and crossed the battle-field 
to support their less fortunate friends. Once again Cavaliers 
and Ironsides fiercely charged, and once again victory re- 
mained with the Ironsides. The Cavaliers fled the field, 
while Newcastle's regiment of Whitecoats, a thousand brave 
Northumbrians raised out of his own tenantry, scorning to 
receive quarter or to fly, were all, save some thirty, cut 
down to a man, in the same order and rank in which they 
stood. Major-General Porter, who had forced back part of the 
Parliament's main battle, now, in the moment of success, found 
foes in his own rear, and had to surrender with his men. 

Broken and routed, the Royalists on all sides fled, and were 
chased with terrible slaughter to within a mile of York. By ten 
o'clock, the battle was over, and after scarce three hours' fighting, 
more than 3000 Royalists lay dead upon the field. The Parlia- 
mentarians lost, it was said, only some 300 men ; they made 1500 
prisoners, and took all the enemy's artillery, ammunition, and 
baggage. " The Earl of Manchester," says his chaplain, " about 
eleven o'clock that night, did ride about to the soldiers both 
horse and foot, giving them many thanks for the exceeding good 
service they had done for the kingdom ; and he often earnestly 



1644.] ESSEX m WEST. 167 

entreated them to give the honour of the victory unto God alone. 
The soldiers unanimously gave God the glory of their great de- 
liverance and victory, and told his lordship with much cheerful- 
ness that, though they had long fasted and were faint, yet they 
would willingly want three days longer, rather than to give up 
the service or leave his lordship." It was not, however, till 
noon the next day, that the joyful news reached Leven, 
who had fled in the belief that the battle was irrecover- wails his 
ably lost. Upon hearing of this, he knocks upon his fllght * 
breast, and says, " I would to God I had died upon the plain."* 

Newcastle, in disgust at seeing his army destroyed and power 
gone through Eupert's rashness, went beyond seas, accom- 
panied by more than eighty gentlemen. The prince returned 
to Chester, with the remnants of a broken army. York sur- 
rendered to the Parliament, and the king lost all hold in the 
north. Such was one result of the battle ; but there Results of 
was a second hardly less momentous. The Inde- battle - 
pendents had triumphed not only over the Eoyalists, but over 
the Presbyterians. In London, it was told how " Cromwel], 
with his unspeakable valorous regiments, had done all the service ; 
the Presbyterians, the Scots, had fled."f As though to render 
the triumph of the Ironsides the more complete, a terrible mis- 
fortune befell the army in which the Presbyterians placed their 
trust. 

The Eoyalist leader, Sir Eichard Grenville, on hearing of the 
presence of Essex in the west, raised the siege of Plymouth, and 
marched for refuge into Cornwall. Essex had already advanced 
as far as Exeter, when the news reached him that the king had de- 
feated Waller, and was now following in pursuit of himself. Some 
of his officers, who had estates in Cornwall which they wished to 
visit, persuaded him to march after Grenville, instead of turning 
at once to meet the royal forces. He soon found that he had 
taken a fatal step. The country people were Eoyalists, and gave 
him no support. The country itself is enough to embarrass a 
general, with its bare back-bone of mountain, moor, or marsh, 
while the southern coast, which is the least desolate, is split up 
into a succession of deep valleys running to the sea. 

* Rushworth ; Ormond Pap., i. 56 ; Fairfax' Mem. ; Cromwelliana ; Sir 
H. Slingsby's Mem. ; Letters and Accounts of Ash, Watson, and Steward, in 
King's Pamphlets, 164, 166; Memorials touching the battle of York, in 
Clarendon Papers in Bodleian, f Baillie, ii. 40. 



16 g ESSEX IN WEST. [wae, 3rd yb. 

Essex had his head- quarters at Lostwithiel, in the valley of 
the Fowey, then spelt, as it is still pronounced, Foy, when the 
kin<*, advancing from Liskeard, pitched his camp and stand- 
ard on Broadoak or Braddoc Downs, near Boconnoc. Hoping 
to profit by the enmity existing between the Presbyterian and 
Independent commanders, he wrote Essex a letter, calling on 
him to end the war by uniting the two armies, and promising 
on the word of a king that he would ever prove a faithful 
friend to both him and his army. The Eoyalist officers after- 
wards set their names to a letter, in which they undertook to 
see carried out all that his Majesty might promise. But Essex' 
honesty stood the test. In answer to their overtures he de- 
clared his inability to treat, and referred the king to the Parlia- 
ment. His generalship, however, did not prove equal to his honesty. 
Though he was in possession of the valley of the Foy, from the 
haven itself to Lanhydrock, a house belonging to the Parliamenta- 
rian Lord Eobartes, so that supplies could be brought into his 
army, both by sea and land, from all sides, excepting the east ; 
yet with little opposition, he suffered the king to draw the toils so 
Surrender at closely round him, that starvation or surrender were 
Lostwithiel. tne on }y alternatives left. Grenville, at the head of 
1400 men, advanced from Bodmin, gained possession of Lanhy- 
drock, and thus opened communication with Charles on Broadoak 
Downs, and shut in the army of the enemy on the north (12th 
August). Essex had neglected to occupy View Hall, a house on 
the east bank of the river opposite Foy, and Pernon Fort, 
standing on the same side and commanding the entrance of the 
harbour. These important positions were now seized and occu- 
pied by the Royalists, so that the Parliamentarians were pre- 
vented any longer from bringing provisions into Fowey by sea 
(13th August). Their position at Lostwithiel soon became still 
more circumscribed. Sir Richard Grenville advanced from 
Lanhydrock and drove Essex out of Lestormel Castle, which 
commands the Fowey valley scarce a mile above Lostwithiel 
(21st August). The same day the king, advancing from en- 
closures which bounded the south side of Boconnoc Park, 
forced the Parliamentarians to quit their quarters on a beacon 
hill, which stands about a mile east of Lostwithiel. Here 
the following night, he raised a battery, whence he shot right 
into their camp, the west was now the only side still open to 



1644. 



ESSEX' ARMY SURRENDERS. 



169 



Essex, and even from this he was shortly to be cut off. Goring 
and the horse seized possession of St. Austell, and thus com- 
manded all the country round Tywardreath Bay, whence pro- 
visions had still reached Lostwithiel by sea (25th August). 
Essex had now no choice left but to surrender. 

The horse escaped by riding off about three o'clock one misty 
morning, between the armies of the king and Prince Maurice, 
which were encamped a small distance apart (31st August). 

Essex and the foot marched from Lostwithiel for Foy, hoping 
as a last resource to escape across the river and sail from Lante- 
glos to Plymouth. Before leaving Lostwithiel, they tried to 
break down the bridge over the river, but were prevented by 
the enemy's infantry, who followed them through the town and 
down the valley, forcing them to a hasty retreat. On the march 
they came to some high ground and enclosures, which they 
occupied, and succeeded for the time in making a successful stand 
and driving the enemy back. The next day, Essex sailed from 




170 MONTROSE IN SCOTLAND. [wab, 3rd ye. 

Foy, in company with his principal officers. As he left the 
harbour, he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by the 
garrison of Pernon Fort. The infantry, about 6000 in number, 
surrendered their ammunition, artillery, and arms, on condi- 
tion that they should be allowed their liberty and conducted 
to the nearest quarters of their friends. The terms, however, 
were not kept ; the men were maltreated and plundered all 
the way on their march through the enemy's country, and so 
many were the deaths and desertions, that only some 1000 
arrived at Poole in safety. Thus the two Presbyterian generals 
in the west were crushed in a single campaign. " Mr. Sheriff," 
said Charles, on his departure from Cornwall, "I leave the 
country entirely at peace in your hands."* 

At this time the flames of civil war had spread from England 
into Scotland. Before the cessation of arms had been concluded 
with the Irish, and before the Scots had declared themselves for 
Civil war in the Parliament, the Marquis of Montrose had formed 
Scotland. with Charles a secret plan of raising the Highlanders 
and uniting them with a body of troops to be transported from. 
Ireland, and thus beginning a second civil war in Scotland. An 
attempt was made to carry this plan into execution during the pre- 
sent summer ; and Montrose, coming down from the Highlands at 
the head of a brave, but savage and undisciplined, army of High- 
landers and Irishmen, twice defeated such forces as the Cove- 
nanters were able to bring together during the absence of their 
best troops in England. t 

Hostilities were carried on in a more and more brutal spirit. 
This was especially the case after the introduction of Irish troops 
into England. The introduction of troops of a lower order of 
civilization is always looked upon with horror. If not savages 
as Indians in America, or ' Turcos ' in France, both High- 
landers and Irish were looked upon as such. They both fought 
Irish and without regard to the ordinary rules of war. Mon- 
Highianders trose > s Highland < hell hounds/ as they were called^ 
were allowed to plunder and butcher at will ; while the Irish 
came stained with the blood of massacred Protestants. An ordi- 

* Letter of Sir E. Basset ; Hals' Parochial History (both apad Davies 
Gilbert's History of Cornwall); Clar. Hist.; Sir E. Walker's Historical Dis- 
courses. 

f At Tipper Muir, 1st September, 1644. At Bridge of Dee, 14th Sep- 
tember, 1614. 



27th Oct., 1644.] SECOND BATTLE OF NEWBURY. 171 

nance passed by the Parliament forbidding quarter to be given to 
any Irishmen or Papists taken in arms (Oct. 3rd), was in their 
case literally enforced. Irish soldiers seized on their way to Eng- 
lish ports were tied back to back and cast into the sea ; those 
made prisoners in England were shot by hundreds. The more 
moderate of the Eoyalists had objected to the introduction of the 
Irish ; but the less scrupulous, not to be behind in acts of cruelty, 
would retaliate by hanging English prisoners, taken in arms, 
twelve at a time, on a tree, or by putting members of garrisons 
to death on slight excuses, contrary to articles of capitulation. 
Thus the war was more and more embittered as it went on. 

Charles, on hearing of Montrose's victories, regarded the 
disastrous day of Marston Moor as already retrieved. He ex- 
pected either that the Scotch army would return to defend their 
homes, or else that Montrose would march into England, fight the 
Scots, and recover his lost ascendancy in the north. But his 
wishes made him overlook the character of Montrose's army. 
After a raid on the Lowlands, the Highlanders' custom was to 
return to the mountains, and enjoy their spoil. The present ex- 
pedition was nothing to them but a raid on a larger scale than 
usual; and no sooner did the winter set in, than they melted 
away from their leader, who found his Irish troops insufficient to 
protect him, and was fain to follow his Highlanders and take 
refuge in their mountains. 

Charles, meaiitime, was marching back from Cornwall to Oxford- 
shire. He had passed through Wiltshire, and reached Newbury, 
when he heard that the armies of Waller, Essex, and Manchester 
were advancing from London to meet him. The Independents, 
content with the proved superiority of their army, had not pressed 
their victory over the fallen Essex and Waller. Waller's army 
had been recruited once moie ; and Essex' men had been re-fur- 
nished with arms on returning from their catastrophe in the west. 
Essex himself pleaded sickness, and remained absent from his 
army, feeling that since the relief of Gloucester, the day of his 
triumphs was over. 

As the united armies of the enemy were 16,000 strong, and his 
own forces not above 8000, Charles, not venturing to risk a 
battle in the open field, took up a strong defensive position in 
Newbury, between the rivers Kennet and Lamborne. On the 
south the town was protected by the Kennet. On the north- 



172 SECOND BATTLE OF NEWBUKY. [war, 3ed ye. 

east troops were quartered in Shaw village, which was strength- 
ened with a breastwork, and in a large house, called Doleman's, 
still standing, as the map shows (p. 144), a little in advance of the 
village on the northern bank of the Lamborne. Bodies of horse 
occupied a gentle eminence rising immediately east of Doleman's 
House, and a few neighbouring hedges were lined with musketeers. 
On the west Prince Maurice's infantry was quartered in the village 
of Speen; and in two large fields, lying north of Newbury, between 
the rivers Kennet and Lamborne, was stationed a large body of 
horse together with a train of artillery. Approach to this quarter 
was rendered the more difficult by the neighbourhood of Don- 
nington Castle, which was held by a strong garrison for the king. 
The Parliament's generals took possession of Clay Hill, lying 
to the north-east of Newbury, and agreed to make a combined 
attack upon Shaw and Speen. For this purpose, the greater 
part of Manchester's horse, all Essex' horse and foot, and almost all 
the forces under Waller, separated from Manchester, and making 
a detour beyond Donnington Castle, surprised the Royalists in 
their quarters on the north-west. Many of the king's guards being 
absent from their posts, the Lamborne was crossed without opposi- 
tion, and Prince Maurice's infantry quickly dislodged from Speen. 
A fierce three-hours' contest followed in the fields lying between 
Donnington and Newbury. The king, who was present in person, 
could not prevent some of his troops from flying under the walls of 
the castle for protection. Essex' men, crying out "that they would 
be revenged for the business of Cornwall," carried off in triumph the 
very cannon they had before surrendered. The Royalists, however, 
succeeded in retaining possession of the field, and when night caused 
the battle to end, Waller retired into Speen. Meanwhile, on the 
other side of the town, a still fiercer struggle had been maintained. 
Manchester had agreed with Waller that as soon as the sound 
of cannon should be heard from Speen, he would advance with 
his forces upon the Royalist quarters at Shaw. During the morn- 
ing he " rode about from regiment to regiment to encourage the 
soldiers, and to keep them in due order fit for that service which 
every hour almost was expected." It was about four o'clock in the 
afternoon when, says an eye-witness, "we saw the firing of the mus- 
kets in Speen, which discovered the service to be very hot, and 
with joy and thankfulness beheld the hasty disorderly retreat of 
the enemy towards Newbury." On this encouraging sight 3000 



27th Oct., 1644.] CKOMWELL VERSUS MANCHESTER 173 

of Manchester's foot burst down Clay Hill singing a psalm 
as they came, intending to storm the defences of the Royal- 
ists, and meet their friends in the fields lying between New- 
bury and Donnington. Charging furiously, the Parliamenta- 
rians forced the king's horse back into the garden of Dole- 
man's House, and made their way right up to the breastworks. 
Here, however, they were exposed to a murderous fire, and 
fell in numbers, while they were able to do little execution 
upon enemies sheltered by walls and earthworks. As was 
not seldom the case in this war, with the approach of night, 
friends were mistaken for foes ; so that after one company of 
Manchester's foot had possessed themselves of one of the enemy's 
outworks, a second beat them out again with great loss of life 
to both. After four hours' hard fighting, the Parliamentarians 
gave up the attack and drew off, while sheltered from pursuit by 
their own horse, which had stayed all the time barely beyond 
range of the enemy's pistols. It was now ten o'clock, and a clear, 
moonlight night. Charles, seeing that he had lost ground upon 
the western side of the town, forsook his quarters, and, without 
meeting any opposition, withdrew by Donnington Castle to Wal- 
lingford, passing between Waller's and Manchester's armies.* 

It was a victory, but not a victory to break the king's 
power in the south, as Marston Moor had broken it in the north. 
When the generals returned to London, Cromwell Dissensions 
laid a heavy charge against the Presbyterian earl 1U -London. 
in the House of Commons ; how Manchester had always been 
for such a peace as a victory would be a disadvantage to ; how 
he had often acted as if he thought the king too low and 
the Parliament too high, but especially at Donnington Castle : 
" Though," said Cromwell, " I showed him evidently how this 
success might be obtained, and only desired leave with my own 
brigade of horse, to charge the king's army in their retreat, 
leaving it to the earl's choice, if he thought rroper to remain 
neutral with the rest of his forces. But he positively refused his 
consent, and gave no other reason but that, if we met with a 
defeat, there was an end of our pretensions — we should all be 
rebels and traitors, and be executed and forfeited by law." 

* Ludlow Mem.; Clar. Hist.; E. Walker's Hist. Discourses; A true re- 
lation of the most chief occurrences at and since the Battle at Newbury, 
(by Simeon Ash, chaplain to Manchester) in King's Tracts. 



274, SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. [war, 3rd tr. 

Manchester, in turn, retorted on his lieutenant-general charges 
of insubordination, and of deep dark designs ; of having said, 
*' that it would never be well in England till I were plain Mr. 
Montague, and there was never a peer nor a lord in the land." 
Indeed, it was reported that Cromwell said to his soldiers, " if he 
met the king in battle, he would fire his pistol at the king as at 
another." The charges were not pressed on either side, and no 
judgment was passed. But the Presbyterians from this time 
feared Cromwell as the ablest and most determined of their 
opponents. Pyni was dead nearly a year now, and there had 
risen up in his place a man they owned to be " of a very wise and 
active head, universally well-beloved as religious and stout, being 
a known Independent, and loved by the soldiers." Their fears 
made them the more eager to effect a peace, which would secure 
their own ascendancy, and crush the hated Independents. Peace 
propositions were accordingly brought forward, and passed both 
Houses of Parliament after meeting much opposition from the 
Independent party (9th Nov.). Charles agreed to send seventeen 
commissioners to Uxbridge, to discuss the terms proposed, with 
thirty-five members of Parliament and the Scottish commissioners. 

But while the Presbyterians were intending peace, the Inde- 
pendents were preparing to re-model the army, and place it in 
the hands of men who knew how to conquer ; for it was evident 
that the war would never be brought to a successful close while 
the command of the forces of the Parliament was divided between 
rival generals of different principles, some of whom did not wish 
to push matters to an extreme. To effect their purpose, they 
Proposed to deprive of office, civil and military, all 
denying members of Parliament. The House was considering 
ordinance. ^ e sac i condition of the kingdom, when Cromwell 
rose and spoke to the following effect : " It is now time to speak, 
or for ever hold the tongue. The important occasion now is no 
less than to save a nation out of a bleeding, nay almost out of a 
dying condition. . . . For what do the enemy say 1 Nay, 
what do men say that were friends at the beginning of the Parlia- 
ment ? Even this, that the members of both Houses have got 
great places, and commands, and the sword into their hands, and 
will not permit the war speedily to end, lest their own power 
should determine with it." " Whatever is the matter," continued 
another member ; " two summers are passed over, and we are not 



1644.] UXBRIDGE NEGOTIATIONS. 175 

saved. A Bummer's victory has proved but a winter's story ; the 
game has shut up with autumn, to be new played again next 
spring, as if the blood that has been shed were ouly to manure 
the field of war I determine nothing, but it is apparent that 
the forces being under several great commanders has oftentimes 
hindered the public service." " There is but one way of ending 
so many evils," said a third member. " I move that no member 
of either house shall, during this war, execute any office or com- 
mand, civil or military " (9th Dec). 

The motion was acted upon, and a ' self-denying ordinance ' to 
the effect proposed was ordered to be brought into the House. 
Since the Presbyterians fully understood that this measure 
was intended to place the army under the sole control of the 
Independents, they were not inclined to relax in their opposition. 
But they had now been three years at the head of affairs and 
not yet brought the war to an end. Public opinion was strong 
against them and turned the waverers, so that the ordinance was 
carried by a small majority of seven votes (19th Dec). 

In the Upper House, the opposition was even stronger than in 
the Commons. The peers of England had always held the 
highest command in the state, and were now unwilling to make 
way for the rise of their inferiors in rank, by yielding up honours 
that they regarded as their hereditary right. They accordingly 
rejected the ordinance, saying, that they did not know what 
■shape the army would take (15th Jan., 1645). The Independents 
answered the objection by introducing into the Commons a 
second ordinance for the re-modelling of the army. Ordinance 
There was only to be one army, to consist of 21,000 Jj™*^ 
men. Sir Thomas Fairfax was named commander-in- army, 
chief ; Skippon, major-general ; and a blank was left for the 
name of the new lieutenant-general. This ordinance also passed 
the Commons, and was sent up to the Lords (28th Jan.). 

Meanwhile, commissioners from king and Parliament met, as 
agreed, at Uxbridge. The question of religion was first dis- 
cussed. The Parliament demanded that Episcopacy should b3 
abolished, the Presbyterian Church established, and the king 

himself take the covenant. The king's commissioners TT , . , 

Ux bridge 
offered so far to reduce the power of bishops that, in negotia- 

most points, they should be incapable of acting with- tlons - 

out the consent of the ministers of their respective dioceses. 



176 TJXBKIDOE NEGOTIATIONS. [tab, 4th ie. 

This concession might have been accepted at the beginning of 
the war, before the hopes of the Presbyterians had soared so 
hio-h. But the two nations were now bound together by their 
solemn league and covenant, and nothing would satisfy Scotch 
or English Presbyterians but the entire abolition of the order of 
bishops. Next came the question of the militia. The king 
offered to resign the command to Parliament for seven years, on 
condition it should then revert to the crown. Two years ago, 
this concession also might have given satisfaction, but the strength 
of the Independent party was now far too great to allow of its 
acceptance by the Commons. Thirdly it was required that the ces- 
sation of arms, made by Charles with the Irish, should be declared 
void, and, hardest of all, that all his friends, even his very nephews, 
should be excepted from receiving the benefit of the royal preroga- 
tive of pardon. It was through the Independents that the strin- 
gency of the terms had been increased. The offer of peace was 
genuine on the part of the Presbyterians, who were most anxious 
that the king should accept terms before the army passed out of 
their hands. It was certainly a time for Charles to consider the 
question seriously. If he accepted, the Presbyterians would re- 
store him — at least, in a manner — to his throne ; the army of the 
Scots, the armies of Essex and Waller, united with the Cavaliers, 
would present a force more than enough to meet any opposition 
the Independents might offer. On the other hand, if he refused, 
the Independents would gain the sole control of the forces of the 
Parliament, and the result was sure to be some crushing defeat 
to himself. 

This was the sober truth ; but Charles' eyes were dazzled by a 
far more brilliant prospect, as he sat over letters and despatches 
in his rooms at Oxford. The queen, who had fled from Exeter to 
Prance, when Essex marched into the west, constantly sent her 

husband advice, much in the shape of command, bid- 
Charles 

opposed ding him be careful of making any peace that should 
to peace. nQ ^ res t ore ^^ i n i s f ^ rights, and ensure her own 
safety. Montrose, who had gained a third victory in Scotland, at 
Inverlochy (2nd Feb.), wrote to implore him not to make himself 'a 
king of straw,' promising, before the end of the next summer, to be 
in England at the head of a gallant army. Charles, however, did 
not need to be dissuaded from accepting the terms offered by the 
Parliament, for he still believed in the final success of his arms.. 



1645.] SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. 1W 

He was soliciting both France and Denmark for assistance, and, 
through, the queen, was carrying on a negotiation with the Duke 
of Lorraine for the transportation of 10,000 soldiers into England. 
He was writing to Ormond that if the Irish Catholics should 
assist him, and he be restored to his throne by their means, he 
would consent to repeal all the penal statutes made against them.* 
He was trusting for success to the divisions of his enemies, and 
believed that, if he failed in the field, he could still play off one 
against the other, and that either section must be glad to bid 
high for his support against the other. Buoyed up by such 
hopes, Charles wrote to the queen, that he would never quit 
Episcopacy, nor the sword which God had put into his hands, 
and that she need not doubt the issue of the negotiations, for 
there was " no probability of a peace." He forbade the commis- 
sioners to make any further concessions, and the negotiations at 
Oxbridge were accordingly broken off (21st Feb.). 

The king's rejection of the propositions was a terrible blow to 
the Presbyterians. The Lords, of whom only five or six had any 
sympathy with the Independents, had now to pass the Lords 
ordinance for the re-modelling of the army (15th Feb.), self-denying 

, i ic i • t t • • ordinance. 

and a second self-denying ordinance, depriving mem- 
bers of any office conferred on them since the election of the Par- 
liament (3rd April). Any further opposition on their part would 
onJy have accelerated the speed of the revolution, by causing the 
Commons to declare their ordinance good at law without the con- 
sent of the House of Lords. For, in times of revolution, when the 
real powers in the State are the sword and the people, an upper 
chamber is useless and weak. The Commons, now acting as the 
executive, commanded the sword, the people supported the Com- 
mons, and the Lords were powerless to guide or stay the march 
of events. 

The self-denying ordinance, which now passed the Upper House,, 
differed in an important point from the one before rejected. By 
this, members were not precluded from taking office on any fu- 
ture occasion. Its only effect was, in fact, to make, as it were, a 
fresh start. The existing Presbyterian generals were practically 
cashiered, but new nominees could be generals as well as mem- 
bers. But the Presbyterians, though foiled in these matters 
through their political half-heartedness, could still console them- 

* Ludlow, iii. 232, Letter to Ormond. 



173 EXECUTION OF LAUD. [war, 4th yk. 

selves with their ecclesiastical supremacy. In that sphere they 
never pretended to be tolerant. Their victim now was Laud. He 
had been impeached of high treason at the same time as Strafford, 
"but the charge in his case was not pressed to an issue, and Pym 
and his party had contented themselves with leaving him to die a 
natural death in the Tower. Now, however, through 
iJentof " the bigotry of Scotch and English Presbyterians, these 
Laud. proceedings were revived against the old man, already 

a four years' prisoner. His innovations in religion, the cruel 
sentences of the Star Chamber, and his interference with the 
judges, were charged against him, as an endeavour to subvert 
the laws and overthrow the Protestant religion. The judges, 
on being asked their opinion by the Lords, replied that the 
charges did not fall within the legal definition of high treason. 
The Lords would doubtless have followed the opinions of the 
judges. The Presbyterians, however, being determined on his 
Laud con- death, voted him guilty by an ordinance of Parliament, 
OTdurulc^'of w ^^ cn * ne House of Lords wanted spirit to reject. 
Parliament. The verdict of the judges marked this as far more 
unjustifiable than Strafford's case. The fact that the chief pro- 
secutor was Prynne, whose body showed the marks of the cruel 
judgments of the Star Chamber, roused, no doubt, a strong 
feeling against the archbishop. But a Parliament cannot plead 
the excuses of a mob, and cruelty did not constitute high trea- 
son. The conviction shows how little the securities that fence 
justice round are likely to be regarded when a popular assembly 
usurps the functions of the judicature. It shows, also, the evil 
of the precedent which was set when Strafford's conviction was 
secured by a Bill of Attainder instead of the legal process of an 
impeachment. The ordinance was simply a Bill of Attainder 
without the king's consent. The Presbyterians desired the blood 
of their former persecutor ; and the Independents, in return for 
the passing of the self-denying ordinance, refrained from offering 
opposition to the gratification of their rivals' vengeance. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NASEBY. — END OF WAR (1645 — 1646). 

.Fellows in arms, and my most loving; friends, 
Bruised underneath the yoke of tyranny, 

* * v * 

In God's name cheer ly on, courageous friends, 
To reap the harvest of perpetual peace 
By this one bloody trial of sharp war.— Rich. III., v. 2, 1 — 16. 

The army, re-modelled at Windsor, was reduced, according to the 
ordinance, to a body of 21,000 men— 14,000 foot, 6000 horse, 1000 
dragoons. Though a smaller, it was a far more formidable force 
than it had ever been before, its ranks beiDg now almost entirely 
composed of sectarians, and these either freeholders' sons or arti- 
sans. A clause introduced into the self-denying ordinance al- 
lowed religious men to serve without first taking the covenant, so 
that the new army was in no way bound, to the Presbyterians. 

These men had taken up arms, not to earn pay, but to win the 
victory of liberty of conscience. They proved no ordi- Re-modelled 
nary soldiers. A severe but popular discipline banished arm y- 
profane language and drunkenness from their camp. They would 
pass hours with their officers reading and expounding the Bible, 
and were able and ready to win converts for their doctrine by 
argument. A Presbyterian, appointed chaplain to one of these 
regiments, found his life a ' daily misery,' from abhorrence of the 
new views of these zealots. One soldier would argue against set 
forms of prayer ; another against the baptism of infants ; a third 
would maintain the thesis that there was no need of ordained 
ministers at all, since any man might be moved by the Spirit of 
God to preach and pray — a doctrine as horrible to the Presbyte- 
rian as making priests of the lowest of the people to the Levite ; 
while all alike would contend for liberty of conscience, including 
the right of every sect to worship with its own forms, and pro- 
mulgate its own doctrines, 

12—2 



180 FAIKFAX' REMODELLED ARMY, [wab, 4th yb. 

In Oxford the new army was rather despised than feared. The 
Cavaliers scoffed at "Noll Cromwell" going forth "in the might 
of his spirit, with his swords and his Bibles, and all the train of 
his disciples, every one of whom is as David, a man of war and a 
prophet." Yet such confidence was singularly ill founded. It was 
Cromwell's men who had overthrown the Cavaliers on Marston 
Moor, and now a whole army was coming against them, fired 
by the same fierce enthusiasm as the Ironsides. Fanatical as 
these might be in their zeal, their courage was undoubtedly steeled 
by the conviction that, like the Israelites of old, they were fight- 
ing in God's cause, and that in such a cause victory must come, 
and death was better than delaying it.* 

Obedience— the first step to victory — was rigidly enforced. 
Soon after the army left Windsor, a council of war was held upon 
several soldiers for disobeying regulations, and the body of one 
was left hanging upon a tree, as a warning to his comrades. The 
following day a proclamation was made that it was ' death for any 
to plunder.' The man whom Charles described as the " rebels' 
new brutish general," was Fairfax. He had been the chief 
framer of the new model army. He was no self-seeker, but a 
simple and straightforward patriot. Too refined to be a fanatic, 
he was deeply religious. His family had fought for the Protestant 
cause in the Low Countries, and he had himself seen service there as 
a lad. Fearless as a lion, fire and daring were his chief charac- 
teristics at first, but he soon showed power as an organizer, and 
was as vigilant as he was collected in the field. His wife was a 
general's daughter, and cheered his soldiers by her presence in 
the camp. Though of delicate health, he was as ready to face 
discomfort and hardships as peril. Once, when his own regiment 
grumbled at being ordered to bring up the rear instead of 
leading the column, he dismounted from his horse, and himself 
marched on foot that whole day at its head. Lessons like these 
have not to be read twice. By the self-denying ordinance Crom- 

* The spirit of the Ironsides is not wholly extinct. In 1856 the question 
■whether Kansas was to be a free or slave state gave rise to a border waiv 
John Brown, a descendant of one of the English pilgrims who sailed to 
America in the " Mayflower" in 1620, formed a camp of God-fearing Puritans, 
who were " earnestness incarnate." Sis of them were bis own sons. Twenty- 
eight of these defeated fifty-six pro-slave borderers, and once 2000 Missou- 
rians retreated before 250 of his men. John Brown was taken and hanged 
in 1859, but his story became the marching-song in the great war of aboli- 
tion (1861—1865). 



1645.] RUPERT STORMS LEICESTER. 181 

well had been displaced. But Cromwell's name had become a 

talisman of victory, and instructions were soon sent him by the 

committee of the two nations to take command of a body of 

horse in the west (23rd April). Fairfax and his officers not long 

afterwards petitioned the Lower House for Crom- Cromwell 

well's appointment as lieutenant-general of the horse glnerafot^" 

(6th June) ; and though the appointment was nomi- new army. 

nally temporary, it was always renewed, and his position, both 

as officer and member, soon became unassailable. 

On the other hand some of the best of the king's officers had 

been killed, others displaced to make way for worse men than 

themselves. Goring and Grenville, two unprincipled adventurers. 

commanded in the west, and were ruining the king's cause by 

their conduct towards one another and the people. 

tt i i /-h i • i t V* • Royalist 

Hyde and Colepepper were sent with the Prince decline in 

of Wales, now a boy of fourteen, to bring them to west " 
obedience ; but the prince's presence only added new fuel to 
the fire, and between the jealousy of the generals, the insubordi- 
nation of the officers, and the marauding habits of the soldiers, 
the king's interest declined rapidly in those parts. 

Early in May the king himself left Oxford for the north, and 
joined Rupert near Chester, intending to take the enemy in de- 
tail, and attack the Scots before he met the re-modelled army 
of Fairfax. This plan was changed on the news that the re- 
modelled army was itself investing Oxford. He now determined 
to march east towards the associated counties, expecting that 
Fairfax would draw off his forces from Oxford for their 
protection. The line of march led the army by Leicester, which 
was held for the Parliament. Bupert erected a battery, and 
sent a summons to the garrison to surrender. Not receiving 
an answer at once, he opened fire. For some, hours "both 
sides plied each other with cannon and musket-shot as fast 
as they could charge and discharge, and so continued all 
day" till midnight, when a great breach was made, and on 
the morning of the fourth day a general assault was storming of 
ordered on six or seven different points, and, after a Leicester - 
terrible struggle, the Cavaliers forced their way into the town, 
falling three to one, according to their own calculation. The gar- 
rison, about 1000 in number, threw down their arms and became 
prisoners of war ; but the townspeople suffered dreadfully, the 
Royalists at their first entrance putting many to the sword, and 



282 FAIKFAX ATTACKS NASEBY. [war, 4th tr. 

plundering churches, hospitals, Royalists and Roundheads indis- 
criminately.* Charles was so much elated by this success that, 9 
ievr days after the storming of Leicester, he wrote to the queen : 
"I may, without being too much sanguine, affirm that since the 
rebellion my affairs were never in so fair and hopeful a way." 

Rupert was still in favour of one of the bolder courses, of 
marching either east against the associated counties, or northwards 
on the Scots ; but Charles was persuaded to turn south and relieve 
Oxford, which he believed was still closely invested. He was 
grievously misinformed. On hearing of the fate of Leicester, 
Fairfax had raised the siege, and was now marching north to offer 
the king battle. On reaching Kislingbury, within five miles of 
the Royalist quarters, which were on Borough Hill, outside 
Daventry (12th June), he learnt from some stragglers that the 
enemy were in complete ignorance of his movements, the king- 
out hunting, the soldiers in no order, the horses at grass. Yet all 
that night the careful general rode round his outposts in the rain, 
half expecting the Royalists would attempt a surprise on hearing 
of his presence. But at three in the morning he saw a blaze on 
Borough Hill ; the Royalists had fired the huts they had made 
of the furze then covering the hill, and could be seen riding- 
fast away to the north. The unexpected arrival of the enemy 
had, in fact, determined Charles to return to Leicester, and 
there recruit his army before risking a battle. Fairfax was 
holding a council of war at six in the morning, when Cromwell, 
just made lieutenant-general of the horse, came in from the 
associated counties, bringing with him a troop of six hundred 
horse and dragoons. The soldiers greeted Cromwell's arrival with 
huzzas ; the generals soon settled their plans ; the king was pur- 
sued ; and that same evening (13th June) a body of horse under 
Ireton beat up the Royalist rear at Naseby, taking several pri- 
soners. The fugitives carried the news that night to the main 
body, who had advanced some seven miles to Harborough. The 
Charles king himself was lodged at Lubenham Hall, a mile or 
council of * w0 wes t °^ Harborough, to which town he rode at once> 
war - and summoned a council of war, 'resting in a chair in a 

low room,' till his officers were roused from their beds, and col- 
lected from their various quarters. Of the council, some proposed 

* Sprigge (but see p. 392) ; King's Tracts, 213. 



1645.] NASEBY FIELD. 183 

to wait for reinforcements expected from the west, but the majo- 
rity agreed with Rupert that the insult was too much to be en- 
dured ; that, as the Roundheads pleased to follow, they would 
turn and fight, not doubting they would defeat the psalm-singing 
saints, who had cast off their natural leaders. 

Between Sibbertoft and Naseby the country rises and falls in a 
succession of rounded undulating hills. Both villages stand high; 
the lowest depression between the two is a piece of marshy 
land, now called Broad Moor. From Broad Moor the ground 
rises rapidly at first to the south ; it is then broken by smaller 
hollows, and then continues to rise more gradually to the village 
of Naseby. This country, now covered with trees, hedges, corn- 
fields, and meadows, on that morning of the 14th of June lay 
still in nature's keeping, for the most part an open pasture- 
ground, scattered over with furze-bushes. Patches of corn-land 
were discernible here and there, but the ground was mainly un- 
enclosed, as in fact it remained till within the last half-century. 

Fairfax, who early in the morning saw large bodies of horse 
moving on a hill a little south of Harborough, drew up his army 
on the brow of Mill Hill, which immediately slopes down into 
Broad Moor. Cromwell and the Ironsides occupied the ground 
on the right, flanked by Naseby rabbit-warren. Fairfax himself 
commanded the main body. The left wing, led by Ireton, was 
composed of horse, with some dragoons on foot, who were set to 
line the one hedge on the field which then, as now, marked the 
boundary line of the parishes of Naseby and Sulby. The baggage 
was left behind at Naseby, nearly two miles in the rear. The 
word for the day was passed along the ranks as "God is our 
strength." 

About ten o'clock the Royalists were seen advancing over the 
Sibbertoft Hills in order of battle. The two armies Battle of 
were both between 10,000 and 11,000 strong, there not f 4 a t h5une 
being "five hundred odds in number." The king's force 1645. 
consisted of about 5520 horse and 5300 foot. The Parliamenta- 
rians were stronger in infantry than in horse. Fairfax, wishing 
to conceal from the advancing enemy the exact form of his battle, 
ordered his soldiers to fall back a hundred paces in a hollow be- 
hind the brow of Mill Hill. Rupert, who, as usual, commanded 
the Royalist right wing, gathered from this movement that the 
enemy was in full retreat, and' thought the day already his OAvn. 



• LEICESTER 




1645.] BATTLE OF NASEBY. 185 

It was the work of a moment to send word back and bid Charles 
come on with all speed, and then he and his Cavaliers, shouting 
their word, " Queen Mary!" dashed down Dust Hill, over Broad 
Moor, and up Mill Hill. The dragoons who lined Sulby hedges 
on his right fired hotly on him as be passed, but he charge of 
charged till he drove into Ireton's horse, sent them fly- & u pert. 
ing before him, and in headlong course galloped away hard up to 
Naseby hamlet. There he spied the baggage-train, and made for 
it ; the commander, hardly thinking the Cavaliers could be there 
already, seeing, as he thought, his own general officer approach- 
ing, asked, hat in hand, " How goes the day ?" " Will you have 
quarter V was Eupert's curt rejoinder, for it was he. The com- 
mander declined, and Rupert, still nothing doubting his friends 
were as successful as himself, wasted much precious time in an 
attack on the baggage, which the guard successfully repelled. 

The other divisions of the king's army hurried on after the 
right wing, in slight disorder and too quickly to bring up all their 
artillery with them. Their left wing was ordered to charge up 
the hill against Cromwell, who commanded the Parliament's right 
wing. But before they had time to charge home, the Ironsides 
came on over rabbit-burrows and furze-bushes, swinging ironsides 
down upon Broad Moor with all the impetus of the Royalist 
hill, broke the Royalist horse, and sent them flying fast left - 
and far behind their foot. Leaving some horse to prevent their 
rallying again, Cromwell turned round with the remaining 
troops to assist his friends. The infantry in the Parliament's 
centre was in difficulties ; on the first charge of the king's foot all, 
except Fairfax' own regiment, "gave back in disorder," but their 
officers snatched the colours, and, with the help of the reserve, 
soon rallied and brought them on again. Fairfax, with animation 
in voice and eye, looking even taller than his wont, rode about in 
the thick of the danger, cheering on his troops. His helmet was 
beaten off by a sword, and the colonel of his guards, seeing him 
riding bareheaded amid showering bullets, begged him to take his 
own in its place. " ; Tis well enough," shortly replied the general. 
Skippon behaved as bravely ; though dangerously shot in the side, 
he refused to leave the field — " As long as one man will stand, I 
will not stir." It was at this critical moment, when the Royalist 
left wing was broken, Rupert and the right wing nowhere to be 
seen, that Cromwell's horse rode up and charged the king's main 



186 BATTLE OF JSA.SEBY. [wae, 4th ye. 

body in flank. This decided the day. The Eoyalist lines turned 
and fled. One regiment of Bluecoats, indeed, rivalled the gallantry 
of Newcastle's Whiteeoats on Marston Moor in resisting the efforts 
of the enemy to break them. Leavirig their greater number 
lying wounded or dead upon the ground, they too at last were scat- 
tered before the combined charge of Cromwell and Fairfax. The 
Eoyalist reserves of horse and foot now alone remained undis- 
ordered. Rupert, as usual, brought back some of his Cavaliers to 
the field in time to see the battle lost. His return awoke a gleam 
of hope in Charles' breast, who, placing himself at the head of his 
horse-guards, prepared for a last desperate charge upon the Iron- 
sides. " Face about once!" he cried, "give one charge more, and 
recover the day !" But a Scotchman, the Earl of Carnwath, seized 
his bridle and turned his horse's head, swearing and saying, "Will 
you go upon your death ?" Some one at the same moment cried 
out, " March to the right I" an order which caused the whole 
troop to turn their backs on the enemy, thinking they were in- 
tended to shift for themselves. In an instant all were in full 
flight, and had ridden a quarter of a mile before they could be 
rallied again. And then, indeed, the day was lost, for the Eoyalist 
foot were flying, hopelessly broken by the final charge of Crom- 
well and Fairfax. " They ran away," says a Parliamentarian, 
"both fronts and reserves, without standing one stroke more." 
Off went the beaten Cavaliers after the foot, leaving for the enemy 
King's let- their cannon, carriages, arms, jewels, clothes, and a 
ters taken. ca bi ne t of letters belonging to the king, " supposed to 
be of great consequence." The battle had lasted only three hours 
wdien the day was won. The chase was carried for twenty miles, 
through Harborough, to within sight of Leicester ; 5000 prisoners 
were taken ; 2000 Eoyalists said to be left dead on the ground.* 
The victory was complete, but it was not the Eoyalists only 
who were depressed by it. The Presbyterians felt their sun had 
set to the Independents, and became more desirous than ever to 
conclude a peace with the king. This was the king's chance, but 
the cabinet of letters foiled it. The Independents agreed tho 
Presbyterians should have their way if this prize proved the 
king was not the deceiver they had painted him. A trial of the 

* Rusliworth ; Whitelock ; Clar.Hist. v., 175 ; Sprigge, Anglia Kediviva ; 
King's Tracts, 212 ; Markkam, Life of Lord Fairfax ; Carljle, Letters aud 
Speeches of Cromwell. 



1645.] KING'S CABINET OPENED. UT 

king's capacity for keeping treaties was then held before a crowd 
of citizens at Guildhall. The letters were read, and amongst 
other passages the following, addressed to the queen : — " I give- 
thee power to promise in my name, to whom thou thinkest most 
fit, that I will take away all the Penal Laws against Eoman Ca- 
tholics in England, as soon as God shall make me able to do it ; 
so as by their means I have so powerful assistance as may deserve 
so great a favour, and enable me to do it" (5th March, 1645). — 
" I must again tell thee that most assuredly France will be the 
best way for transporting the Duke of Lorraine's army, there 
being divers fit and safe places of landing for them upon the 
western coasts" (Oxford, 30th March, 1645). These letters were 
then published by order of Parliament, who were bound to make 
known to the nation the dangers that menaced it. A cry of in- 
dignation rose on all sides against the king. Men said there 
could be no doubt of his bad faith. Though he had so often 
declared his intention of maintaining the Protestant religion, 
he was allowing his wife to make promises to the Catholics in his 
name ; and then, while his commissioners were negotiating peace 
at Uxbridge, he had been intriguing to bring over foreign soldiers 
into England. The questions of peace, war, and religion were all 
to be settled by the Catholic queen ; she was to have the disposal 
of the destinies of England, and the concessions at Uxbridge had 
been only a blind — no peace was ever intended. To offer the' 
repeal of the law as a price for the aid of the English Papists 
was either a mockery, or a proof of the intention to rule without 
Parliaments. 

The war now entered on its last stage. Charles' army was. 
gone ; all that was left were small forces, scattered Last stage 
about in the west, or engaged in garrison duty. The of war - 
Scots, who had been besieging the towns near the Border, now 
marched right down through the country and laid siege to Here- 
ford, while Fairfax and Cromwell marched west, driving before 
them Goring and Grenville's beggarly troops, with their knavish 
leaders — as Clarendon himself described them — and forcing the 
garrison of one town to surrender after another. The king, 
meanwhile, with a body of 1000 horse, was in Wales and the 
western counties, flitting about from place to place in a purpose- 
less way, and sometimes hardly knowing where to betake himself 
for safety. " Whatever you do," writes Colepepper, still with the 



188 KEBTTCTION OF WEST. [wae, 4th te. 

Prince of Wales, to Lord Digby, "take care of the king's person. 
I assure you these skipping jaunts make my heart ache." 

Though the war had now reached its lowest ebb, the country 
.suffered more than ever. The adherents of the Parliament, whose 
estates lay in districts hitherto Royalist, now came down upon 
their tenants for rents already paid to the king's friends. 
Excisemen, sent by the Parliament into the country, compelled 
the people to pay taxes for sheep, money, or provisions of which 
they had been robbed by the plundering Royalists. In some 
cases so much suffering ensued, that the very soldiers said " they 
would starve before they would be employed in forcing the tax, 
or take any of it for their pay." In the north the Scots lived at 
free quarters, and their conduct made the people look on them 
as freebooters rather than as friends. In the west the king's sol- 
diers became mere marauders ; men were captured with as much 
as £20 in their pockets ; while their leaders cast innocent men 
into prison, merely to exact a ransom. 

When Fairfax and Cromwell marched into the west, they found 

€lubmen in ^at m these counties the country-people had begun to 

west - assemble in bodies, sometimes 5000 strong, to resist 

their oppressors, whether they fought in the name of King or 

Parliament. They were called clubmen from their arms, and 

carried banners, with the motto — 

" If you offer to plunder our cattle, 
Be assured we will give you battle.' 

The clubmen, however, could not hope to control the movements 
of the disciplined troops who now appeared against them. After 
a few fruitless attempts at resistance they dispersed, leaving the 
new army to do their work more effectually by completely sup- 
pressing the Royalists. 

Charles himself, in the midst of his wanderings and reverses, 
was too proud to think of leaving England or deserting his throne, 
or even as yet of humbling himself to purchase peace from Pres- 
byterians or Independents. But his friends began to despair. 
Rupert himself wrote to counsel peace, and soon after- 
surrenders wards surrendered Bristol, the most important town in 
Bristol. t k e wes k The defences had been stormed and par- 
tially carried by Cromwell and Fairfax ; and though Rupert was 
severely criticized by men who believed the town might still have 
held out, there seems no just ground for attributing the capture 



1645.] DEFEAT OF MONTKOSE. 189 

to any pusillanimity in the prince. Charles, however, who had 
understood from Rupert that, if no mutiny happened in the gar« 
rison, he would keep the place for four months, felt deeply 
wounded at this apparent desertion of his cause. He sent the 
prince an indignant letter, with a pass to take him beyond seas. 
The surrender of Bristol was soon followed by a second blow. 
Montrose had come down from the Highlands for another sum- 
mer's raid, in which he gained three victories over the Covenanters 
(Aulderne, 4th May; Alford, 2nd July ; Kilsyth, 15th August); 
gentlemen of the Lowlands had been induced by his success to de- 
clare for the king ; Edinburgh had opened its gates : and the army 
of the Covenanters in England had been obliged to raise the siege 
of Hereford, and march back northwards to meet this new enemy. 
Charles, on hearing of the surrender of Bristol, started to join Mon- 
trose, now, as he believed, about to fulfil his promises, and enter 
England at the head of a Royalist army. But at Chester his own 
troops were defeated and dispersed by Poyntz, a commander of 
the Parliament, and, after he had escaped himself to Wales, he 
heard the disastrous news that the army he sought to Montrose 
"join no longer existed. Montrose, surprised by Leslie defeated at 

Philiphauo-h 

at Philiphaugh, on the border, not far north of Car- (13th Sept., 
lisle, had been entirely routed, and had again become 1645 ^ 
a fugitive in the Highlands. The king with difficulty now made 
his way first to Newark, and afterwards to Oxford, where he was 
thankful to find himself once again in safety for a time (6th Nov.). 
But it was evident that Oxford would not be safe for long. Pair- 
fax was completing his victorious career in the west ; that over, 
the siege of Oxford would follow at once, and then it would not 
be long before the king was a prisoner of war. Overtures of peace 
were the only hope, and Charles sent one message upon the heels 
of another, offering to come to London and treat in person with 
the Parliament (Dec. and Jan., 1645-6). But his messages met 
with no friendly reception at Westminster. The Presbyterians,. 
no doubt, would before have been glad to treat, preferring 
even the Royalists to the Independents ; but they p res i 3y t e . 
had now lost alike the power and the will to treat, "an decline. 
Two causes had weakened their power. During the i. New 
autumn months 130 new members were elected to fill eleotlons ' 
the vacancies five years had caused by death, desertion, or expul- 
sion. Though Presbyterians were returned in larger numbers. 



ig DECLINE OF PRESBYTERIANS. [war, 5th ye. 

yet through want of experience, or want of ability, they did not 
carry half so much weight with them as the new Independent 
members, many of whom had already won distinction in politics 
or in war. Such were Hutchinson, Ludlow, Blake the admiral of 
the future, Fleetwood, Ireton who soon afterwards became 
Cromwell's son-in-law,* and Algernon Sidney son of the Earl of 
Leicester. The officers who got their seats by these new elections 
did not come under the provisions of the self-denying ordinance, 
so that, while the Presbyterians had lost their commissions, the 
newer party won their seats and kept their commissions as well. 

The second cause that weakened the influence of the Presbyte- 
ir. Conduct rians was the oppressive conduct of their friends the 
of Scots. Scots while quartered in the northern counties. But, 
supposing the Presbyterian party had had the power to make 
peace of themselves, at this time they had no longer the will. 
This was in consequence of a new disclosure. A year before this 
Charles had authorized Ormond to make promises to the Irish 
Catholics in his name.f The Catholics, however, were wary, and 
refused to hear of a peace, or of rendering the king any assistance, 
without first obtaining his consent to the establishment of their 
own religion in Ireland. If Charles granted these conditions, he 
knew the affection of his own party in England would be cooled, 
while the hate of the Puritans would be increased ten-thousand- 
fold against him. The problem that had been occupying his mind 
for the last twelve months was how to obtain aid from the Irish, 
and yet keep concealed from the English the terms on which it 
was granted, until victory should enable him to set public opinion 
at defiance. He had solved it by entrusting to Lord Herbert, 
Earl of Glamorgan, the most loyal of Catholics, a secret warrant, 
signed by his own hand, and sealed with his private seal, giving 
him power to make terms with the Council of Kilkenny, without 
III. Glamor- the piivity of the Earl of Ormond. Accordingly Gla- 
treatywltii mor g an concluded a secret treaty, in which it was 
Irish. agreed that, all penal laws being repealed, the Eoman 

Catholics were to be allowed the public exercise of their religion, 
and to hold the revenues of all churches of which they had gained 
possession since the war first broke out. As they held far more 
than half the churches, this amounted to the establishment of 
their religion. They, on their side, were to send 20,000 men to 
assist his Majesty in England (12th Aug., 1645). After the defeat 

* Married Bridget Cromwell, 15th June, 1648. f See p. 176. 



1646.] TREATY OF GLAMORGAN. 191 

at Naseby, Charles also wrote to the pope, engaging his royal word 
to fulfil whatever conditions should be agreed upon by Glamorgan. 
.'But this treaty came to light, like Charles' other secret plots. In 
a skirmish fought in Ireland, duplicates of the whole transaction 
were taken in the carriage of a Catholic archbishop, and sent to 
London to the committee of the two nations (Oct., 1645). After 
having reserved this secret for three months, the Independents 
caused the papers to be read in Parliament and published, at the 
very time when Charles was sending one message after another 
for a treaty of peace (Jan.). The country was in a ferment of in- 
dignation. The establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in 
a Catholic country seems an innocent proposition, if not a just 
concession. To understand the ferment it raised, it is necessary 
to recall the circumstances of the time. The Thirty Years' 
War was still in progress. The fire of the Reformation was 
still burning in men's hearts. They had come out of a great 
struggle, in which Europe had been*' split into two camps. 
Protestant nations had preserved their religious independence 
only by resisting the armed assaults of Catholicism. The gain 
was worth the struggle, but there is no struggle without some 
bitterness remaining, and the Catholics were the victims of this 
bitterness. The hate felt by Protestants towards Catholics was, 
in fact, one of the characteristics of the age. The Protestants re- 
garded the Catholic religion as at once idolatrous and subversive 
of all good government. The gorgeous and imposing ceremonies, 
standing in such striking contrast to the simplicity of Puritan 
worship ; the blind obedience to the pope ; the doctrine that the 
end justifies the means, illustrated as this had been by the mas- 
sacre of St. Bartholomew, the Gunpowder Plot, and the late 
butchery in Ireland — all this had raised up in the nation's mind 
such a wall of prejudice that the Catholics, regarded as a class, 
were shut out of all sympathy whatsoever. For a people with 
these feelings to see, as it seemed, the fruits of the victory over 
Spain bartered away by the king in return for the loan of savage 
and Popish troops, to be used against the liberty of Protestant 
subjects, was more than could be borne. The Royalist Hyde, 
in the history he wrote of the rebellion, omitted all mention of 
this business with Glamorgan, which he could not palliate. In 
his private correspondence he calls it "inexcusable to justice, 
piety, and prudence." 



192 TEEATY OF GLAMOKGAtf. [war, 5th yb. 

While Charles' friends were disgusted with the ti'eaty, his enemiea 
looked upon it as another proof of the unfathomable deceitf ulness 
of his nature : for, " while he was protesting before God to the 
Parliament, sa)ing, i I will never abrogate the laws against the 
Papists/ he was underhand dealing with the Irish rebels, and 
indignation P rom i sm g to repeal the laws against them ; and while 
felt in the he said, ' I abhor to think of bringing foreign soldiers 
into the kingdom/ he was soliciting the Duke of Lor- 
raine, the French, the Danes, the very Irish, for assistaDce." The 
newspapers had their scathing criticisms. " We are experienced," 
wrote a weekly Intelligencer, " that kings often deal like water- 
men : look one way and row another. What else mean those 
overtures of a treaty with us, when those bloodthirsty rebels are 
proffered the enjoyment of Popery ! Now judge whether the 
king hath any real intention of peace, when he labours to bring 
over 10,000 of the Irish rebels to cut our throats here, as they 
have done to divers of our brethren there !" Meantime, to save 
the king's character, the Earl of Ormond put Glamorgan at once 
into prison, as though he had acted without authority. Charles 
again offered to come to London for a personal treaty, declaring 
to the Parliament that, until Glamorgan's arrest, he had never 
heard of the negotiations (January 29th). His words, however, 
found no credit at Westminster, and his warrant to Glamorgan 
still remains to give the lie to his statement. Glamorgan, who 
had been devoted enough not to reveal his secret instructions, 
was released after a month's imprisonment (February 1st), and 
continued the negotiation. The landing of a body of Irish 
troops was, it seems, only prevented by the war coming to an end 
before they were ready to sail. 

Whether or no such a treaty would have been politic at any 
time in the war, it was certainly impolitic now. The one chance 
now was to divide the two parties ; the arrival of Irish soldiers 
on such terms would have thrown Presbyterians and Indepen- 
dents into one another's arms as brothers, while the troops 
themselves would have been taken at sea, or crushed on landiug, 
where there would have been no force to join them. 

By the end of March, the royal forces, scattered over the west, 
were all defeated and dispersed, or forced to take refuge in 
garrison towns. Hyde and the Prince of Wales were driven 
down to the very extremity of Cornwall, and had to sail from the 



1646.] CHARLES' FLIGHT TO SCOTS. 193 

coast (March 1st). Sir Jacob Astley, an old gray-headed Cavalier, 
was the last to resist in the open field. " Now, gentlemen," he 
said, to the officers of the Parliament, on surrendering, " yon have 
done your work, and may go play, unless you choose to fall out 
amongst yourselves " (March 22nd). 

It was on the belief that his enemies would still fall out among 
themselves, that Charles uoav grounded his hopes of restoration to 
his throne. At the same time that he was courting the Presby- 
terians, and proposing to come to London and treat with them in 
person, he was making secret offers to the Independents to root 
out the Presbyterians, offering them freedom of conscience, if they 
would ensure the same to the Eoyalists. " I am not without hope," 
he wrote about this time, " that I shall be able to draw either 
the Presbyterians or Independents to side with me for extirpat- 
ing the other — that I shall be really king again.''' But the dis- 
trust he had engendered was too deep : his advances were not 
met, and he soon found that, unless he made haste to get out of 
Oxford before it was invested, he should fall into his enemies' 
hands, without having bound them to any conditions at all. 

Af ter much consultation, it was agreed that his best plan would 
be to seek a refuge in the Scottish army. M. de Montreuil, the 
French ambassador, had been authorized by Cardinal Mazarin, 
the chief minister of Louis XIV., to negotiate an agreement be- 
tween Charles and the Scots, and engage the faith of France for 
the performance of whatever promises either side should make. 
Though Charles refused to agree to take the covenant, Montreuil 
at first obtained some civil speeches from the Scots' commis- 
sioners in London, to the effect that if the king came to them, 
they would receive him as their natural king, offer no violence to 
his person or conscience, and endeavour to procure a happy and 
well-grounded peace. But the London commissioners soon drew 
back, thinking they had gone too far ; while the commissioners 
at the Scottish camp refused to make any such agreement, only 
promising to receive the king, and demanding that he should 
give them satisfaction in the question of religion, by which they 
meant, take the covenant, as soon as possible. Upon this poor 
security, Charles, accompanied by two companions, left Charles with 
Oxford in the guise of a servant (27th April), and after Scots - 
nine days' wanderings, arrived in safety at Kelham, near Newark, 
the head-quarters of the Scots. Montreuil brought him some 

13 



19 4 ANGER OF INDEPENDENTS. f war, 5th tr, 

verbal promise of safety and introduced him into the camp 
(5th May). The chief officers affected extreme surprise at his ap- 
pearance, but at the same time great gratitude for the trust he 
had placed in them. " I shall be well satisfied," replied the king, 
" if you perform the conditions upon which I have come to you." 
But they corrected him when he used the word " conditions," 
saying, 'they had never been privy to anything of that nature; 
and if the king had made any treaty, it must be with the Scottish 
commissioners in London, which was no concern of theirs.' 
Charles' spirits fell, and he already wished himself out of their 
power. 

When the news reached London, the Independents w r ere 
furious. They thought the king would never have taken the step 
without having made up his mind to consent to the covenant, es- 
tablish the Presbyterian Church, and in return be allowed to rule 
subject to Presbyterian guidance ; while they, the true conquer- 
ors, would be persecuted by Presbyterians and Royalists, their 
noble army be disbanded, their noble cause — freedom of con- 
science — be stifled at its birth. To stave off such an end as 
this, they might, no doubt, have used their army, and appealed 
to force. But the Independents still aimed at a victory within 
the lines of the constitution. Parliament, and not the army, was 
the supreme authority ; it was in the sacred name of Parliament 
that they had won their victories, and they still wished to lead 
the Parliament, and not to fight it. Although, therefore, inclined 
in the first flush of anger to have followed the Scots and taken 
possession of the king's person by force, they contented themselves 
with doing all in their power to produce a rupture between the 
two nations, in order that the Commons might vote war, and 
they, in obedience to the supreme authority of the nation, might 
lead the Ironsides to fight the hated allies. In the newspapers, 
in' pamphlets, in Parliament, at all times, in all places, the Inde- 
pendents attacked the Scots as traitors, the cruel oppressors of the 
northern counties, w 7 ho designed to betray and ruin England. 
The national hatred was readily excited, and, after many debates, 
the Commons voted that the Scotch army was no longer re- 
quired, that it should be asked what was owing to it, and be 
requested to withdraw (11th June). 

But the Scots, who had already retreated in fear as far as 
Newcastle, were willing to bear any amount of reproach rather 



1646.] NEWCASTLE PEC-POSITIONS. 195 

than draw clown upon themselves the Independent army. On 
their side, the English Presbyterians, still the majority in the 
Commons, were far more anxious to disband the dangerous sec- 
tarian army, than to batten it on the blood of their own northern 
allies. The Independents could not bring about a war, when so 
many were determined not to quarrel. Charles outwardly did 
what he could to effect an agreement. He sent messages to the 
two Houses, urging them to draw up peace propositions ; ordered 
the commanders of all towns and castles still held for him to 
surrender (10th June); bade Montrose, who was then a wan- 
derer in the Highlands, to lay down his arms ; and made a 
parade of sending orders to Ormond to make no peace with the 
Irish rebels — orders which Ormond had secret instructions to dis- 
obey (11th June). 

Charles' outward submission aided the efforts of the Presby 
terians, and he finally received peace propositions from Newcastle 
Parliament (23rd July). By these, he was required propositions. 
to take the covenant, to establish the Presbyterian Church, to 
surrender to Parliament, for twenty years, the command of the 
army, navy, and militia ; to consent that seventy-seven of his 
friends should be excluded from amnesty, and that all his party 
should be shut out from public employment' during the pleasure 
of Parliament. Anxiously was Charles' answer looked for on 
both sides. If he consented, the Independents would either be 
obliged to submit to Presbyterian tyranny, or begin a second 
civil war against Scots, English Presbyterians, and Royalists 
united. If he refused, the Presbyterians were checkmated ; they 
could make no concession on the Church question ; on the 
militia question they could not get easier terms for him against 
the opposition of the Independents, and dared not offer easier 
terms if they got them, because they had no confidence in his' 
word. The possible prospect of his refusal revealed darkly 
looming before them a thousand difficulties in retaining their own 
supremacy over the sectarians. " The great God," was their 
prayer, " soften that man's heart, or else he will fall in tragic 
miseries, and bring ruin upon himself and us together." 

The king endured a bitter trial for the next six months. He 
would have made some concessions about the militia, had not his 
wife forbidden him ; but he could not bring himself to establish 
a new Presbyterian Church in England. Some trace his reluc- 

13—2 



198 CHARLES REJECTS PROPOSITIONS. [war, 5th tr. 

tance on this point to a belief that the support of the Church 
was even more essential to monarchical power than the com- 
mand of the militia ; but this view seems to do injustice both to 
his sense and his sincerity. He had too much ability to believe 
the pen of the bishop could guard his throne as well as the sword 
of the army. The ' command of the militia ' had been the stake 
of the war, and there was now not a militia, but an army, to 
command. Secondly, a careful study of his letters induces the 
belief that his religious convictions were deeper and stronger 
than his political views. His political views may have been 
taught to him by his father and his ministers ; his religious 
views were taught by his father, his ministers, and his heart. 
Yet it was on this very point that his friends, both at home 
and abroad, most urgently pressed him to yield. They thought 
that if this concession by itself did not win over the Parliament, 
it would certainly win over, the Scots. To keep the militia, to 
yield the Church, was the command, rather than the advice, of 
his wife. " By granting the militia," she wrote, " you cut your 
own throat, for then there is nothing you can refuse, no not my 
life even, if they ask it ; but I will take care not to fall into 
their hands/"* Her letters were always written in the same 
heartless tone. She was far less tender of her husband's happiness, 
conscience, or life, than she was of his power. If he regained his 
old authority, she was ready to return and share it with him ; 
if he lost it, she would sooner he stayed a prisoner in England 
than trouble her with the presence of a crownless fugitive. 
Charles, however, wrote doleful letters, pointing out that if he 
did not quit the kingdom now, he might lose his last chance of 
escape. These she only answered by forbidding him to think of 
escape, until the Scots should have declared in plain language 
they would not protect him. Poor Charles ! there were two acts 
for which lie felt real regret, and to both of which he had been 
urged by his queen ; the first was, in his own words, " that base, 
unworthy concession about Strafford f the second, " that great 
wrong and injustice to the Church, of taking away bishops' votes 
in Parliament." Though he sacrificed his personal safety to her 
wishes, he refused to load his conscience a third time for her 

* " Vous vous etes coupe la gorge; car vous ne leur pouvez rien refuser, 
pas meme ma vie, s'ils vous la demandent. Mais je ne me inettrai pas entre 
leurs mains." 



164G.J HIS SCRUPLES. 197 

satisfaction. He did, indeed, endeavour to meet her wishes by a 
compromise. He proposed to her that he should let the Presby- 
terian Church remain as the established Church of England for 
three years, on condition that the question should then be re- 
ferred to Parliament for an ultimate decision after previous dis- 
cussion by an Assembly of Divines. This compromise was 
approved by Juxon, to whom Charles submitted it as at once 
the keeper of his conscience and the maintainer of the Church. 
But the queen treated the compromise with scorn ; she taunted 
him with the folly of having a conscience which would give up a 
point for three years, when nothing was to be got by it, and yet 
scrupled to give up the point for life to save his kingdom. " Per- 
mettez moi de vous dire, que je crois, si je me pouvais dispenser 
<Tune chose que je croyais contre ma conscience pour trois ans et 
pour rien, j'irais plus loin pour sauver mon royaume. Mais pour 
toutes autres choses n'accordez plus rien." Thus brow-beaten 
out of all concession on the militia question, and heartlessly 
ridiculed out of his attempt to meet his wife's wishes on the 
Church question, Charles in despair returned to his original 
intention, and sent messages to Parliament, making no conces- 
sions, but only proposing to come to London and treat in person 
(Aug., Dec). 

Though the Presbyterians were disappointed with his answer, 
which, was tantamount to a refusal, they still believed that, once 
in their hands, they could wring the concessions from him, and 
then disband the Independent army. After some haggling, the 
Scots secured a written promise for £400,000, as the charge to 
which they had been put by the war. A treaty was signed ac- 
cordingly (Dec). Though no mention was made of the king, it 
was fully understood that the Scots were to deliver him up, when 
their army evacuated Newcastle. As Charles had come to his 
enemies' camp, uninvited, after refusing the covenant, scots sur- 
the only terms on which they offered to protect him, they render kill £- 
were not bound to let him go, still less to fight for him ; though 
they would have done even that, if he would now have agreed to 
their offer. It was understood that if he was given up, the Eng- 
lish Presbyterians would restore him to the throne, on their own 
terms, and disband the ' evil army ' * of the Independents. It 
would have been perfectly justifiable in the Scots to give him up 
* Baillie. 



193 SCOTS SURRENDER CHARLES. [was, 5th te. 

on these terms. Not content with this they made a canny bar- 
gain. No doubt, had they given him up without a money treaty, 
they would never have been paid their arrears, and this was 
much to poor men. As it was, they got their money, but more 
than their money's worth of abuse. They earned the abuse by 
making the terms of surrender mercenary, and not political. 
The distinction may seem fine, and the judgment hard. But 
there are cases where a high sense of honour can alone save 
men from deep dishonour. They were now called 'the traitor 
Scots/ ' the Jews who sold their king,' and as they marched 
out of Newcastle, which was always Eoyalist in feeling, the 
very women were all but stoning them (30th Jan.). Mean- 
time, the Presbyterian commissioners escorted the king from 
Newcastle to the residence assigned him at Holmby House in 
Northamptonshire. On the road crowds flocked to see him. The 
country people everywhere hoped that their troubles were over, 
that an agreement would be made on which, the army would be 
disbanded, and the king return to London with honour and 
safety.* Near Nottingham Charles met Sir Thomas Fairfax, 
who dismounted to kiss his hand, and afterwards rode through 
the town by his side. At Holmby he received a hearty welcome 
from a large concourse of gentlemen, ladies, and yeomen (Feb. 
13th). Well content with his reception, his spirits rose, and he 
made no doubt he should yet get either Presbyterians or Inde- 
pendents to unite with him, " to extirpate the other and make 
him really a king again !" 

* Ludlow, i. 162. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRESBYTERIANS,, INDEPENDENTS, ERASTIANS, AND THEIR 
THEORIES. 

O wad some pow'r the giftie gie us 
To see oursei's as others see us ! 
It wad frae monie a blunder free us 

An' foolish notion ; 
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, 

An' e'en devotion. — Burns. 

For the last three years the Assembly of Divines had been 
sitting almost daily in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster 
Abbey. The assembly consisted of a hundred and twenty 
ministers, all Presbyterians but ten or twelve Inde- p res byte- 
pendents ; twenty members of the Commons and ten rians - 
peers ; besides four ministers and three laymen from Scotland. 
They were preparing a new Prayer-book, a form of Church Go- 
vernment, a Confession of Faith, and a Catechism ; but the real 
questions at issue were the establishment of the Presbyterian 
Church and the toleration of sectarians. 

The Presbyterians, as we know, desired to establish their own 
form of Church government by assemblies and synods, without 
any toleration for nonconformists, whether Catholics, Episcopa- 
lians, or sectarians. But though they formed a large majority 
in the assembly, there was a well-organized opposition of Inde- 
pendents and Erastians, whose union made it no easy matter for 
the Presbyterians to cany every vote their own way. 

The Independents agreed with the Presbyterians in freeing the 
Church from the control of the State, but the essential require- 
ments of their theory of Church government were — 1st, the inde- 
pendence of each separate congregation, including the Church 
election of its own ministers ; 2nd, that penalties for Jin^epen- 1 
spiritual offences should be spiritual and not temporal ; dents, 
inflicted, not by the civil magistrate, nor by assemblies, but by the 
congregation. Their theory on this second point was expressed 



200 



ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. [parties. 



by Milton in a pamphlet in which he wrote, " It is not to be ex- 
pected all in a church to be gold and silver and precious stones ; 
it is not possible for man to sever the wheat from the tares, the 
o-ood fish from the other fry ; that must be the angels' ministry, 
at the end of mortal things. Yet, if all cannot be of one mind, 
as who looks they should be ? this, doubtless, is more wholesome, 
more prudent, and more Christian, that many be tolerated rather 
than all compelled." This noble theory of toleration naturally, 
but illogically, they confined to all sects who taught the funda- 
mental doctrines of Christianity. 

The name of the Erastian party was derived from a German of 
the sixteenth century, called Erastus. These were at the opposite 
pole to their allies. The Independents made each congregation 
independent of both Church and State ; the Presbyterians made 
the congregation dependent on an independent Church ; while 
the Erastians made the Church itself dependent on the State. 
Their wish being to reduce the power of the Church, they were 
as strongly opposed as the Independents to the strong Church, 
government of the Presbyterians, and were quite willing to 
agree with them in making the congregation independent of any 
Erastians. such central authority as the Scotch assembly. They 
also agreed with the Independents in their objection to civil 
penalties for spiritual offences. In fact they went further, and 
objected to spiritual offences being punished by the spiritual 
weapon of excommunication. Their party mainly consisted of 
lay members from the Parliament, who had the intuitive dislike 
of lawyers to courts administered by ecclesiastics. Episcopacy 
many of them would have been willing to restore, if shorn of 
the moral and social jurisdiction it enforced under civil penalties. 
The English Church, as administered at the present day, would 
have nearly come up to their ideal. 

The Presbyterian Church could be seen in full work in Scot- 
land. There toleration was unknown. Those who conformed 
held their goods and chattels at the mercy of ministers and elders 
sitting in kirk session ; while those who did not conform were 
imprisoned till they did ; neighbours and servants acted as in- 
formers, and the edifice was crowned by a great Church Assembly, 
in power more than a match for the Scotch Parliament. Bad 
as it is to have Church, and State acting in antagonism to one 
another, in Scotland the establishment of the Presbyterian 



1643—9.] PRESBYTERIAN- INTOLERANCE. 201 

system kept political liberty alive among the people. The 
Scotch Parliament was corrupt, and did not represent the 
country. The Church assemblies, on the contrary, Avere really 
popular in constitution ; conscious that their power was based on 
the affections of the people, the ministers and elders who sat in 
them dared to uphold the cause of liberty, when their Parlia- 
ment was suffering itself to be made a tool in the hands of the 
•executive. Thus, however contentious they showed themselves, 
however unreasonable the claims they put forward, the assem- 
blies none the less played the same part as the English House of 
Commons in preventing the establishment of an arbitrary mo- 
narchy. Further, the excessive influence which the Presbyterian 
Church exercised in Scotland was itself due to the fact that a 
very large proportion of the nation was Presbyterian, so that 
even where tyranny was exercised the sufferers as a rule them- 
selves approved of the discipline. In England neither of these 
conditions existed ; the Parliament was far better fitted than 
an assembly of churchmen to defend the nation's liberties, while 
the Presbyterians themselves were in a minority. It was im- 
possible, however, that in the warmth of their zeal the Presby- 
terian party should be brought to lecognize the force of the dif- 
ferent conditions prevailing in the two countries. In fact, the 
arguments used in the assembly did not regard these points. 
The question was debated from the theological point of view, 
whether the Presbyterian Church had been originally established 
by the will of God. When the Presbyterians were opposed by 
Erastians and Independents, the ignorance which accompanied 
their dogmatism was often exposed. When they quoted a tell- 
ing text, Selden, the Erastian lawyer, would say, " Perhaps in 
your little pocket Bibles with gilt leaves" (which they would often 
pull out and read) " the translation may be thus or thus, but in 
the Greek or Hebrew it signifies the other." His opponents had 
to bow to his superior knowledge. Thus the Opposition 
went on for months, battling every point ; and " besides all this/' 
says a Presbyterian, plaintively, " we have to answer the pam- 
phlets of our many opponents, often very plausibly written, de- 
manding liberty for all religions." The Commons, moreover, in 
summoning the divines, meant to hear their advice, not to abide 
by their votes. As soon as a debate ended in the assembly it 
began again in the House. There the Presbyterians found it 



2C2 ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. [pasties, 

more difficult to command a majority, for the ranks of their 
opponents were swelled by a new contingent, the " worldly pro- 
fane men," who, though impartial as Gallio as to creeds, evinced 
a desperate antagonism to any ' kirk-sessional' discipline. 

At last, however, after the assembly had sat a year and a half, 
the Parliament passed an ordinance for putting a directory, pre- 
New Prayer- pared by the divines, into force, and taking away the 
book. Common Prayer-book (3rd Jan., 1645). The sign of the 

cross in baptism, the ring in marriage, the wearing of vestments, 
the keeping of saints' days, were discontinued. The communion 
table was ordered to be set in the body of the church, about 
which the people were to stand or sit ; the passages of Scripture 
to be read were left to the minister's choice ; no forms of prayer 
were prescribed. The same year a new directory for ordination 
of ministers was passed into an ordinance. The Presbyterian 
assemblies, called presbyteries, were empowered to ordain, and 
none were allowed to entei the ministry without first taking the 
Ordinance covenant (8th Nov. , 1 645) . This was followed by a third 
for esta- ordinance for establishing the Presbyterian system of 
Prcsbyte- Church government in England by way of trial for 
nan Church, three years. As originally introduced into the House, 
this ordinance met with great opposition, because it gave power 
to ministers of refusing the sacrament and turning men out of 
the Church for scandalous offences. Now, in what, argued the 
Erastians, did scandalous offences consist ? Were 10,000 little 
courts of justice to be set up over the kingdom, searching into 
men's lives, and punishing any fault they pleased to call a scan- 
dalous offence ? A modified ordinance accordingly was passed ; 
scandalous offences, for which ministers might refuse the sacra- 
ment and excommunicate, were specified ; assemblies were de- 
clared subject to Parliament, and leave w^as granted to those who 
thought themselves unjustly sentenced, to appeal right up from 
one Church assembly after another to the civil power — the Par- 
liament (16th March, 1646). 

Presbyterians, both in England and Scotland, felt deeply 
mortified. After all these years' contending, then, just when they 
thought they were entering on the fruits of their labours, to 
see the Church still left under the power of the State — the dis- 
appointment was intense to a degree we cannot estimate. They 
looked on the Independents as the enemies of God ; this { lamo 
Erastian Presbytery ' as hardly worth the having. 



1643—9.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ESTABLISHED. 203 

Through Presbyterian influence, a severe ordinance passed the 
Parliament for the suppression of blasphemies and here- 
sies (2nd May, 1648). Those who denied the doctrines for the sup- 
of the Trinity, the Atonement, or the inspiration of Ephemtes 
the Scriptures, were to be punished with death as an d 
felons. Anabaptists and those who denied the lawful- 
ness of the Presbyterian government to be imprisoned until they 
should recant. But, happily, these terrible persecutors failed in 
power. It seemed, indeed, as if all their force was spent in the 
process of getting their ordinances through Parliament. Thus, to 
the very last, their Church government was only set up in Lon- 
don and Lancashire, while their ordinance to suppress heresies en- 
tirely failed in its object. To get the ordinance passed the assembly 
had sent petition after petition to the Commons, showing the daily 
growth of heresies and schisms ; the city of London had com- 
plained that private meetings multiplied, that eleven were held 
in one parish alone, that women and ignorant persons preached.* 
But, after all, the passing of the ordinance did not abate the evih 
The Presbyterian party in Parliament dared not attempt strong 
measures for the suppression of sectarians, while the fatal Inde- 
pendent army remained undisband°d, while the king obstinately 
rejected the terms offered him, and the Eoyalists stood by 
mocking and exulting over the feuds and heart-burnings of their 
opponents. Milton with bold bitterness appealed to Parliament 
against these new forcers of conscience : 

*' Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent, 
Would Lave been held in high esteem with Paul, 

Must now be named and printed Heretics, 

By shallow Edwards and Scotch what-d'ye-call ; 

But we do hope to find out all your tricks, 

Your plots and packing, worse than those of Trent, 
That so the Parliament 
May with their wholesome and preventive shears 
Clip your phylacteries, though balk your ears 3 f 

And succour our just fears, 
When they shall read this clearly in your charge 
New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large." 

Colonel Hutchinson, governor of Nottingham Castle, and 
Cromwell's friend, was not a man who could be imprisoned 
because he refused to have his child baptized, nor yet one likely 
to fail in protecting poorer brethren of his own persuasion. Per- 
secution to any extent was only possible against Catholics ?nd 
* Weekly Account, Jan., 1646. f I.e., leave untouched. 



204 SECTARIANS. [parties 

Episcopalians, who were regarded as Eoyalists by Independents 
and Presbyterians alike. An ordinance was passed, forbidding 
the Prayer-book to be publicly or privately read, on payment of a 
fine of £5 for the first offence, £10 for the second, a year's impri- 
sonment for the third. Catholic priests taken in the country were 
remorselessly imprisoned, banished, or executed. Meanwhile new 
sects sprung up on all sides, and obtained safe shelter under the 
shadow of the army and its leaders. Any man, however ignorant 
and untaught, might obtain his little band of followers, for the 
people's minds were restless and willing to give ear to every new 
doctrine. A book written at this time asserted that there were 
176 heresies which found believers in the nation. Amongst 
many other sects, appeared the Brownists, who would have had 
the laws of England modelled upon those of the Old Testament, 
and even blasphemers and Sabbath-breakers punished by the 
Leading magistrates with death ; the Anabaptists, who re- 
sects, jected the baptism of infants, and went about re- 
baptizing their converts in the rivers by a hundred at a 
time : the Quakers, who lived lives of extreme austerity, re- 
fusing to take oaths, declaring all war sinful, and teaching that the 
light within man is his sufficient rule of conduct:* and lastly the 
Fifth Monarchists, who held that the world's history was com- 
prised under four monarchies, — the Assyrian, the Persian, the 
Greek, and the Roman ; that the Pom an was soon, like its pre- 
decessors, to pass away, and the Fifth Monarchy — the reign of 
Christ upon earth — to begin. In every country town and village, 
an Anabaptist, or some other sectarian, would appear, and it was 
well for the Presbyterian minister, if, by holding a public dispu- 
tation in his church,+ he could convince his parishioners of the 
stranger's error, and drive schism from their doors. J 

The mental excitement, the questioning, revolving, doubting, 
was not confined to one side or to one question. Not only did 
sectarians increase in numbers, but also men of new iDolitical 
ideas, demanding reforms in the law, the Church, the constitu- 
tion of the State ; some called for a reform of the law, observing 

* Baxter's Life ; Real ; Baillie. f Baxter's Life, 30, 76. 

J The Assembly of Divines practically came to an end in 1649, when it 
was changed into a committee for examining candidates for the Presbyterian 
ministry. It finally broke up without any formal dismissal on the dispersion 
of the ltump Parliament in March, 1653. 



1643—9.] REPUBLICANS. 20S 

that lawyers pocketed enormous fees, and that suitors were often 
kept waiting years before they could get a cause decided in 
Westminster Hall ; others, with feeling for poor debtors, shut 
up for life within a prison's walls, demanded the abolition of im- 
prisonment for debt; Eepublicans, disgusted with Charles' perfidy, 
openly avowed their opinion, that a republic, in which a House 
of Commons, or some other representative assembly, exercised 
supreme authority by itself, was a far superior form of govern- 
ment to a monarchy, and the only one under which liberty 
could be secured ; whilst boldest of all, sectarian soldiers, who 
had read in the Old Testament that blood defiles a land, and 
that a land cannot be cleaused of the blood that is shed therein, 
but by the blood of him that shed it, talked of the duty of bring- 
ing the king to justice, as guilty of the blood of the thousands 
who had lost their lives in the war. Amid the general confusion, 
the Presbyterians made their voices heard plainly enough. 
Though they could not produce a Milton to write, or a Cromwell 
to act, they at least endeavoured to make up for quality by 
quantity, and gave to the world thousands of pamphlets extolling 
their own form of Church government. Yet all their efforts to 
keep down their opponents were unavailing. Sectarians, Eepub- 
licans, law reformers, though they did not necessarily share one 
another's special views, all agreed in opposing the Presbyterians, 
whose ideas of reform were rapidly narrowing to the establish- 
ment of their own Church in place of the Episcopal. The Pres- 
byterians gazed in dismay upon the increasing numbers of their 
enemies, the birth of the war they had themselves begun. Nor 
was their fear groundless ; for, either on the side of Independents 
or of Royalists, the greater part of the intellect of England was 
engaged against them. 

Ever since Pym's death, the young Sir Henry Vane had stood 
at the head of civil leaders. This English stoic at the gj r Henry 
age of twenty sacrificed his brilliant prospects at court ^ allc - 
and emigrated to America for conscience' sake. Chosen governor 
of the little colony of Massachusetts at twenty-three, after exciting- 
enthusiastic admiration for a time, he soon displeased the 
colonists by his advocacy of toleration. He thus returned to 
England in time to take an active part in the discussions pre- 
ceding the meeting of the Long Parliament, of which he was 
elected a member. Though he was hated by the Presbyterians, 



206 



SIR HENRY VANE. [tahties. 



the troublous war times necessarily brought to the helm 
of the State the men, whatever their opinions, whose judgment 
and skill were greatest in directing immediate operations. 
Vane's sagacity in practical matters even his enemies did not 
dispute. Clarendon describes him as a man of extraordinary 
parts, with a wonderful insight into character, and in fact as 
" all in any business where others were joined with him." It 
had chiefly been through his exertions that the Parliament se- 
cured the aid of the Scots in 1643, at the critical juncture when 
the triumph of the king's arms made many regard the cause of 
the Parliament as lost. Milton recognized his greatness, and thus 
at a later date described his administration in the perilous times 
of the Dutch war : 

" Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, 

Than whom a "better senator ne'er held 

The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repelled 

The fierce Epirot and the African bold, 
"Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 

The drift of hollow States, hard to be spelled, 

Then to advise how war may, best upheld, 

Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
In all her equipage; besides to know 

Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 

What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few have done : 
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : 

Therefore, on thy firm hand Religion leans 

In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son." 

His abstract theories of government, however, for Church 
and State, were generally ill understood, and laid him open 
to much misrepresentation. Though called an Independent, 
he in fact belonged to no particular sect, being, as some 
said, ' above ordinances ;' for he held that there was no true 
church established by Divine Eight — neither Episcopalian, Pres- 
byterian, nor Independent ; but that they, whatever their creed, 
who acted in the spirit of Christ, best deserved to be called mem- 
bers of the true Church of Christ. Thus he lost caste with each sect 
by his enthusiastic advocacy of toleration of all ; he braved the 
denunciations of Baxter in supporting Catholics, and stood by 
the Unitarian on trial ; and, while himself spending much of 
most days in prayer, he claimed to be at one with Paul in ac- 
counting the Sabbath as now a mere " magisterial institution." 
With an infinite belief in the perfectibility of human nature he 



1643—9.] JOHN MILTON. 207 

aimed at attaining this object, not through weakening the will 
by repression, but through strengthening it by freedom. 
In the government of the State, as in that of the Church, he de- 
sired that, as far as possible, men should be left free to think and 
act for themselves. While at one with his age in earnestness, his 
ideas were tinged with mysticism, and his theories were too far in 
advance of his age to be understood. By his friends he was re- 
garded as an impracticable enthusiast ; by the Presbyterians 
as a dreamer of dreams, a man of obscure doctrines ; by the 
Royalists as a fanatic who was expecting the saints to govern the 
earth, and himself to reign as their king. 

Milton's name had already emerged among the Independents. 
In 1644 he published a tract, maintaining that non- 
suitability of temper between man and wife is a suffi- 
cient ground for divorce ; a doctrine so objectionable to the Presby- 
terians, that they caused the author to be called to account before 
the House of Lords. But Milton's pen was soon engaged in a nobler 
cause, the freedom of the press (1644). Since the Reformation, 
the crown had assumed the power before exercised by the Church, 
of maintaining a censorship over the publication of books ; and 
authors, printers, and importers of prohibited works had 
been prosecuted in the Star Chamber, and often barbarously 
punished. The Presbyterians, copying the example of the 
tyranny they had overthrown, framed an ordinance, forbidding 
the publication of books, that had not been first perused and 
licensed by officers appointed by Parliament (June, 1643). 
The ordinance was evaded by all parties, but Milton wrote to 
show the falseness of the principles on which it rested. Areopao .itica 
He addressed his tract to the Lords and Commons, or liberty of 
and told them that their ordinance could do no good, printing 
because evil manners are learnt in a thousand other ( 1644 )- 
ways than by books ; that if it answered its purpose it must do 
harm, because it would stop the search for truth and expel as 
much of virtue as of sin. " Truth, indeed," he wrote, " came 
once into the world with her Divine Master, and was a perfect 
shape, most glorious to look on ; but when He ascended, and His 
apostles after Him were laid asleep, there straight arose a wicked 
race of deceivers, who, as that story goes of the Egyptian 
Typhon, with his conspirators took the virgin Truth, hewed her 
lovely form into a thousand pieces, and scattered them to the four 



208 LUDLOW— HUTCHINSON. [parties. 

winds. From that time ever since, the sad friends of truth, such 
as durst appear, imitating the careful search that Isis made for 
the mangled body of Osiris, went up and down gathering up 
limb by limb still as they could find them. We have not yet 
found them all, Lords and Commons, nor ever shall do, till her 
Master's second coming ; He shall bring together every joint and 
member, and shall mould them into an immortal feature of love- 
liness and perfection. Suffer not these licensing prohibitions to 
stand at every place of opportunity forbidding and disturbing 
them that continue seeking, that continue to do our obsequies to 
the torn body of our martyred saint." " Opinion in good men/' 
he said, " is but knowledge in the making." That the greater 
part of the people should be taken up with the study of the 
highest and most important matters ; that there should be a dis- 
puting, reasoning, reading, inventing, discoursing, he told them, 
betokened, not that the nation was degenerated or " drooping to a 
fatal decay, but casting off the old and wrinkled skin of corrup- 
tion, to outlive these pangs and wax young again, entering the 
glorious ways of truth and prosperous virtue, destined to become 
great and honourable in these later ages. Methinks I see in my 
mind," he continued, " a noble and puissant nation rousing herself 
like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks ; 
methinks I see her as an eagle, muing* her mighty youth, and 
kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam ; purging 
and unsealing her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of 
heavenly radiance; while the whole noise of timorous and flock- 
ing birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, 
amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble would 
prognosticate a year of sects and schisms. "t The Parliament, 
however, far from being influenced by Milton's noble appeal, 
passed several further ordinances for restraining unlicensed print- 
ingt (Ord. 1647—1649-1652). 

On the military side there were Ludlow and Hutchinson, both 

* The mew was the dark cage where falcons were mewed up while they 
mewed or moulted their feathers. See Spenser's ' darksome mew' and Hast- 
ings' exclamation on Clarence's imprisonment : 

'More pity that the eagle should be meto'd', 
While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.' — Richard III., i. 132. 
+ Areopagitica, or speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing. Pub- 
lished 1641. 

X The press was set free in 1695, when the Commons refused to renew the 
Licensing Act passed soon after the Restoration (1662). 



1643—9.] IKETON— OLIVER CKOMWELL. 20<V 

of them officers in the army and members of the Ludlow and 
Commons, open-hearted men, who made no conceal- Hutchinson, 
ment of their desire to effect a revolution in the government of 
the State. Distrust of the king had gradually ripened into dis- 
trust of monarchy, and a belief that England could never enjoy 
true liberty or freedom of conscience under any but a republican 
form of government. Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law, was abler 
and more reserved than these brother-officers of his. Though 
devoted to the cause of freedom, he had not, as they, attached 
himself blindly to republicanism as the only security for Eng- 
land's liberties. 

It was Cromwell, however, whom all adherents of the party 
that now found itself standing in such fierce opposition to 
the Presbyterians, regarded as their chief ; whom the enthu- 
siastic Vane, the cautious Ireton, the generous Hutchinson, the 
sincere Ludlow, as well as the sectarian, whatever his denomi- 
nation, Independent, Brownist,, or Anabaptist, all alike looked 
upon as the one man able to understand their wants, and 
to lead them to the accomplishment of their aims. For above 
others he possessed a power of sympathy, talking to each in 
the language of the hearer's heart, until one and all found 
it impossible to doubt that his obv ; ous sympathy with their 
feelings must spring from a sympathy with their views ; with 
Ludlow and Hutchinson he would discuss republican govern- 
ment ; with Vane he could look forward to the time when men, 
instead of being governed by self-interest, should strive to act 
as Christ would act did He reign upon earth ; with his soldiers 
he could pray and humble himself before the Lord, feeling that 
he and they were but as weak worms, and that it was God in His 
mercy who bestowed victory upon His saints ; with the more 
worldly-minded he could unbend and be a pleasant companion, 
using the language of the ordinary English gentleman, while in 
debate he could either attest his sincerity with the fervid words 
and tears of a more demonstrative age, or rein in his feelings 
and battle with the calm arguments of reason. Freedom with 
the various forms of vigorous life that spring from freedom — this 
was his ideal, and it was one that had room within itself for all 
the others. A man whose nature is based on a principle so wide 
and deep, when dealing with those whose aims converge in dif- 
ferent lines on the same point as his own, is not to be considered. 

14 



210 OLIVEE CEOMWELL. [parties. 

false-hearted because his conversation seems to accord with his 
companion's character ; it is rather that his mind is more capacious, 
able to entertain more ideas and feelings than those of his fellows ; 
he sees the many sides to a question, they but one. Sympathy 
is in fact, the first quality of a leader. To move men he must 
be moved by them ; thus alone will they follow while he leads. 
It was thus through his being able to obtain the confidence of all 
that Cromwell took his natural position as chief of a coalition, 
united by common hatred of Presbyterian ascendancy, and in- 
cluding fanatical Anabaptists and Fifth-Monarchists, aristocratical 
Eepublicans and Independents, democratical law reformers and 
Church reformers, with lawyers and Erastians who were Mo- 
narchists at heart. 

The features of this man who, having begun life as a farmer, 
was rapidly rising to become the director of a great nation, rough 
as they were to look upon, could not fail to bear upon them the 
expression of his true worth. A big head, which was covered 
w T ith light brown hair curling down upon his neck ; a forehead 
broad and high ; shaggy eyebrows, with stern, deep-set eyes 
looking out from beneath them ; a nose that stood well out 
from the face, rather broad and red ; a chin and mouth ex- 
pressive of firmness ; a skin tanned brown with exposure to 
wind and weather ; a rough-looking face, with a big wart 
over the right eyebrow ; the whole, bearing the expression of 
dignity though not of grace, showing a man of strong feelings 
with stronger self-control, of spirit stern and just. One of his 
household, writing to a friend in America, thus describes him : 
" His body was well compact and strong, his stature under six 
foot about two inches ; his head so shaped, as you might see it 
a store-house and shop both of a vast treasury of natural parts ; 
his temper exceeding fiery (as I have known), but the flame 
of it kept down for the most part, or soon allayed with those 
moral endowments he had. He was naturally compassionate to- 
wards objects in distress, even to an effeminate measure. Though 
God had made him a heart wherein was little room for any fear, 
but w T hat was due to Himself, of which there was a large pro- 
portion, yet he did exceed in tenderness towards sufferers. A 
larger soul, I think, hath seldom dwelt in a house of clay than 
his was."* 

* Thurloe, i. 766. 



1643—9.] JEEEMY TAYLOE— CHILLINGWOETH. 211 

The thorough Presbyterians boasted no great names, but there 
were those among the king's friends who have won fame for 
their theories on Church and State. The philosopher Hobbes 
published the 'Leviathan' in 1651 : in this he proposed to give 
the sovereign absolute power, both in Church and State, with the 
right to make laws, impose taxes, and decide what creeds should 
be tolerated in his kingdom, arguing that whatever dangers at- 
tended this form of government were none of them so bad as 
that anarchy which attends civil war. In short, Hobbes' ideal 
was a wise and just despotism, a form of government almost im- 
possible to get, and quite impossible to keep. 

There were others among the Royalists who could plead for 
religious toleration in words as noble as those of the Independents 
themselves. Jeremy Taylor, an Episcopalian minister, driven 
from his living during the war, but drawing a noble lesson from 
his own and others' sufferings, was teaching in his ' Liberty of 
Prophesying, (1647), that no matters of mere opinion, no 
errors that are not sins, ought to be persecuted or punished. 
Chillingworth, also, who fought in the royal armies, had written 
before the war broke out a book called the " Eeligion of Protes- 
tants," in which he maintains that th^ Bible is the sole religion 
of Protestants, and each man's reason its interpreter. Protestants, 
he says, are inexcusable, if they offer violence to other men's 
consciences, and if faulty in the matter of claiming authority, 
" it is for doing it too much and not too little. This presumptuous 
imposing of the senses of men upon the words of God, the 
special senses of men upon the general words of God, ai]d laying 
them upon men's conscience together, under the equal penalty of 
death and damnation .... this restraining of the word of God 
from that latitude and generality, and the understandings of men 
from that liberty wherein Christ and the apostles left them, is 
and hath been the only fountain of all the schisms of the Church, 
and that which makes them immortal. . . . Take away these 
walls of separation, and all will quickly be one. Take away this 
persecuting, burning, cursing, damning of men for not subscribing 
the words of men as the words of God ; require of Christians 
only to believe Christ and to call no man master but Him only ; 
let those leave claiming infallibility that have no title to it, and 
let them that in their words disclaim it, disclaim it also in their 
actions." 

14— 2 



CHAPTER X. 

TRIUMPH OF THE ARMY OVER PARLIAMENT. 

DEATH OF THE KING. 

1647—1649. 

Men must reap the things they sow; 
Force from force must ever flow. 

Shelley. 

The ablest men that ever were, have had all an openness and frankness of 
dealing, and a name of certainty and veracity. Dissimulation is but a faint 
kind of policy or wisdom ; it commonly carries with it a show of fearfulness 
which in any business doth spoil the feathers of sound flying up to the mark; 
it depriveth a man of one of the most principal instruments for action, which 
is trust and belief. — Bacon, Essay, vi. 

The war was now at an end. Harlech Castle, in "Wales, the last 
place to hold out for the king, surrendered in April (1647). A 
committee of Parliament sat daily at Goldsmith's Hall, whither 
came Royalists in numbers to compound for their estates ; com- 
pounding being the resignation of a part to avert the confiscation 
of the whole. Yet the Presbyterians could have little pleasure 
in the submission of the Eoyalists ; what they yearned for was a 
triumph over the Independents. In the Commons the Presby- 
terian majority was but small ; and the hopes they had built 012 
the king had fallen through. The Earl of Essex, their most 
respected leader, had been some months in the grave (ob. 14th 
Sept., 1646). The Scotch army had left the kingdom, and it was 
hazardous for unarmed politicians to irritate an armed body of 
some thirty thousand men. They had to rely on themselves, 
and they had no genius for policy. The pay of the army was 
ten months in arrear. The Presbyterians proposed to pay a 
sixth of this sum and disband these dangerous allies. Their 
Presbvte- P r0 P 0S ^l was carried by a bare majority of ten. Of 
rians pass the few regiments who were excepted, some were to 
banding " De despatched to Ireland, others employed upon gar- 
army, rison duty at home (Feb. 19th). They then passed a 



1647.] VOTES AGAINST ARMY. 213 

new self-denying ordinance to eliminate from the army the Inde- 
pendent officers who were in the Commons, while they required 
subscription of the covenant to eliminate those who were not (8th 
March). A bare majority saved Fairfax from being cashiered (5th 
March). In passing these votes, the Presbyterians had at once at- 
tacked the soldier by an attempt to deprive him of his arrears ; 
the officer, by threatening to remove him from command ; the sec- 
tarian, by the imposition of the covenant, the first step to persecu- 
tion. A petition was drawn up by officers and soldiers, to be pre- 
sented to Fairfax, demanding that all arrears should be paid ; that 
none should be required to go to Ireland against their will ; that 
provision should be made for orphans and wounded ; that an Act 
of Indemnity should be passed to protect the soldiers from being 
called to account for any past acts — crimes, perhaps, in the eye 
of the common law, but justified by the necessities of war. The 
Presbyterians, still thinking themselves masters of the situation, 
sent orders to Fairfax to suppress the petition, and published 
a declaration, that whoever joined in it " was an enemy to the 
State, and a disturber of the public peace" (20th March). 
The army was in a ferment. " Have we," said the soldiers, 
■" who have been the instruments to recover the lost liberties of 
the nation, fought ourselves into slavery \ Hard it is that we 
should be denied the subject's liberty to petition."* Two 
councils were formed, in communication with one 
another ; the first of officers, the second of ' adjuta- tions Parlia- 
tors ' or representatives of the regiments. The officers ment - 
addressed to Parliament a vindication of their conduct, com- 
plaining of the treatment they had received, and asserting 
that, by being soldiers, they had not lost the subject's 
capacity of petitioning (30th -April). No sooner had the Com- 
mons heard this paper read, than Skippon produced a second, 
given him by three troopers, which declared the service in 
Ireland "a perfidious design to separate the soldiers from the 
officers they loved, and to conceal the ambition of a few men, who 
had long been servants, but having lately tasted of sovereign 
power, were degenerating into tyrants." The Presbyterians fully 
understood at whom these bold expressions were aimed. The 
three troopers were called in and questioned. "Were your 

* Eushwortb, Abr., vi. 99, 100. 



2ii 2IUTIXY OF AKMY. [long parl. 

officers engaged in this letter, or not V " No ; it was drawn up 
by the agents of eight regiments, aud few of the officers knew of 
it." "Were you ever Cavaliers; for none but Cavaliers would 
have been concerned in such a letter V " No ; we have been en- 
gaged in the Parliament's cause ever since Edgehill fight, and 
have been wounded in several battles." " What does that expres- 
sion mean — ' certain men aiming at sovereignty ' V " The letter 
being a joint act, we cannot answer ; but if you will put your 
question in writing, we will bring \ou back the replies of the 
regiments/"'* The Presbyterians were at first inclined to pass 
some violent votes, but fear soon got the better of anger, and 
they agreed to send down to head-quarters four of the Indepen- 
dent officers, Cromwell, Ireton, Fleetwood, and Skippon, with in- 
structions to pacify the soldiers before disbanding, inquire into 
grievances, and promise redress (7 th May). They afterwards in- 
creased their offer of pay by a miserable pittance (14th May), 
drew up an ordinance for an amnesty (21st May), voted funds 
for widows and orphans, and then, thinking they had granted 
enough to carry their point, sent down Presbyterian commis- 
Army refuses sioners to see the army disbanded (22nd May). The 
to disband. soldiers, however, mutinied instead of disbanding, 
seized money intended for their pay, expelled officers they mis- 
trusted, and then demanded of Fairfax a general meeting of the 
army. 

A dangerous crisis had now arrived, when it was natural that 
both army and Parliament should turn their thoughts upon the 
king as a possible makeweight to one side or the other. At two 
_ , o'clock in the morning of the 3rd of June, a body of horse 

(Jtiirlcs oil*- 

ried off from was discovered before the gates of Holmby Castle. 
Hoimby. a y^ho commands V anxiously inquired the Presby- 
terian commissioners, entrusted by Parliament with the care of 
Charles. " All command," replied the strange troops ; " we come 
from the army to secure the king's person, there being a plot to 
steal him away and raise another army to suppress this, which is 
under Sir Thomas Fairfax." No attempt was made at resistance, 
for the soldiers of the garrison were at one with the troopers. 

The following evening, about ten o'clock, Cornet Joyce, the 
leader of the party, holding a cocked pistol in his hand, went to 

* Rusk-worth, Abr.. vi 113. 



1647.J AEMY SEIZES CHARLES. 215 

the door of the king's chamber. " I am sorry," he said, " to dis- 
quiet the king, but cannot help it, for speak with him I will." 
The gentlemen of the bedchamber, not liking the look of the 
pistol, disputed his entrance, until Charles, awakened by the noise, 
bade them let the intruder in. After a long conversation, the 
king half promised to leave the castle in his company. " Come, 
Mr. Joyce," he said, the next morning, standing on the castle 
steps. " deal ingenuously with me, and tell me what commission 
you have." " Here," said the cornet, pointing with his hand be- 
hind him to his mounted soldiers drawn up in the court below. 
" As fair a commission," replied the king, smiling, " as I ever saw 
in my life ; such a company of proper handsome men as I have 
not seen a great while." The king made a pretence of unwilling- 
ness to blind the Presbyterian commissioners, but soon rode off 
with his new escort to Cambridge, the merriest of the party.* It 
was clear that the value of his support was rising ; he might yet 
get his terms. Fairfax, who was perfectly sincere, wishing neither 
to disband the army, nor to quarrel with the Parliament, was dis- 
pleased when he heard the news.t " I don't like it," he said ; 
" who gave the orders V But none of the officers owned to them. 
Ireton said he had ordered that the king should be secured at 
Holmby, but not that he should be carried away. Cromwell, 
who was much suspected by his Presbyterian fellow-members, left 
London quietly one day, and joined the army in the eastern 
counties. The Presbyterians, thoroughly depressed at the loss 
of their prize, now passed a Bill of Indemnity, voted that some 
instalments of the arrears should be paid down on disband- 
ing, and once again sent down commissioners to see the 
army disbanded. At a rendezvous, held at Triploe Heath, 
near Cambridge, the votes of the Parliament were Rendezvous 

read to the assembled regiments. It was not likely at Triploe 

" . , Heath, 

they would disband now. The commissioners received 

their answer in loud shouts of ' Justice, justice !' and that 

same afternoon Cromwell and Fairfax set the army in motion 

for London (10th June). Both Parliament and city had for some 

time past been taking measures to oppose force by force. The 

command of the city militia was taken from the Independents 

and given to a committee of Presbyterians (4th May). Strong 

* Herb. Mem. ; Kush. Abr., vi. 140, 144. 
+ Huntingdon in Maseres Tracts, 398. 



■216 COMMONS AGAINST ARMY. [long pael. 

guards were set, the shops were shut, and Presbyterian officers of 
Waller's and Essex' old armies crowded to serve in the train- 
bands, which were largely recruited. But no one really believed 
the city forces could stand an attack for a day. The army mean- 
while was approaching, and sent in its demands. The House was 
required to give a month's pay to the troops, without conditions, 
to raise no new forces, and to suspend eleven of the leading Pres- 
byterian members, against whom an impeachment of treason was 
preferred, for having caused a misunderstanding between the Par- 
liament and the army (16th, 17th June). The Commons granted 
a month's pay, and reversed an ordinance passed for raising new 
forces, but could not bring themselves to turn out their own mem- 
bers. The army, however, still advanced. It was at Uxbridge 
and Kingston-upon-Thames, within twenty miles of the city, 
when the eleven members saved the pride of their friends by ask- 
ing leave to absent themselves for six months from the House 
(26th June). The army, so far satisfied, withdrew from the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of the city. 

At this time, ' settlement of the kingdom ' were the only words 
in men's mouths, the only hope in their hearts. No one per- 
eei\ ed more clearly than Cromwell how much a settlement was 
needed, nor how difficult it would be to effect. Eoyalists, Be- 
publicans, Presbyterians, sectarians, soldiers, reformers — what 
possible form of government was to harmonize all these ? The 
Eoyalists beaten, but numerous ; the Republicans speaking with 
calm contempt of the rule of kings ; the Presbyterians regarding 
the sectarians " as the most wicked men that breathed ;" the army 
filled with fanatics and revolutionists, demanding reform in the 
law, the Church, and society. On one point alone was Crom- 
well's mind at this time fixed, that, as far as in his power lay, he 
would prevent any settlement that did not provide for civil 
liberty and freedom of conscience. And now the clouds seemed 
to break, and the sun again to shine upon Charles ; for the officers 
decided that the best way of making a settlement, satisfactory to 
at least the larger part of the nation, would be by restoring the 
king to some shadow of his former power. At Holmby under 
the care of the Presbyterians, Charles, though always civilly 
treated, had been deprived of the attendance of his chaplains, 
forced to dismiss his favourite servants, and not allowed to see 
his friends and children, or to correspond with his wife. But, 



1647.] ARMY PROPOSITIONS. 217 

from the time of his arrival in the army's quarters, he met with 
far more liberal treatment. Four chaplains were permitted to 
attend him, and perform the old Church of England service ; the 
officers were his frequent and respectful visitors ; and his friends 
found ready access to his presence. At the request of Fairfax, 
the Parliament allowed the Duke of York, the Lady Eliza- 
beth, and the Duke of Gloucester to visit their father for two 
days. The meeting took place at Maidenhead ; people strewed 
flowers on the road, and the Kepublicans remembered afterwards 
with horror that Cromwell, their hoped-for leader, came away 
shedding tears, and saying that the interview between the king 
and his children was one of the tenderest sights that ever his eyes 
beheld. 

The propositions now drawn up for the king's acceptance by 
commissioners from the Parliament and the army demanded 
that a period should be put to the present Parliament with- 
in a year at most ; that new Parliaments should be elected 
every two years, and should appoint standing committees 
to continue during the intervals ; that the command of the 
militia by sea and land should reside in Parliament for ten years, 
and shoidd not even then return tc the crown, without the con- 
sent of both Houses ; that Parliament and its committees should 
dispose of all great offices of State, and that peace and war 
should not be made without their consent. Thus far these 
demands aimed at transferring the executive power from king to 
Parliament in much the same way as previous propositions, with 
the one exception of the dissolution of the existing assembly, a 
measure specially dreaded by the Presbyterians, because they had 
lost the confidence of the country. But the propositions on re- 
ligion and reform, which now emanated from the Independents, 
were conceived in a very different spirit from those which had 
been proposed by the Presbyterians. Instead of requiring the 
king to abolish Episcopacy, establish the Presbyterian Church, 
and take the covenant, they asked that an Act of Parliament 
should be passed, repealing all laws which inflicted civil penalties 
for spiritual offences. There was to be no privilege for covenant 
any more than for Prayer-book ; the sword of the persecutor was 
to be changed into the harmless crook of the pastor. To the king's 
friends they were as merciful as they were to his conscience : with 
the exception of seven persons, Royalists were to be allowed to 



218 AEMY PEOPOSITIONS— KING'S CHANCE, [long paei* 

compound for their estates at easier rates, and their incapacity for 
office was to be limited to five years. " There must," said Ireton 
" be some distinction made between the conquerors and the con- 
quered." Lastly, there were additional reforms proposed, in 
which the popular instinct of the army showed to advantage be- 
side Presbyterians and Republicans, who cared more to gratify 
their theories than to relieve the wants of the people. No man's 
life was to be taken away by less than two witnesses. The course 
of law was to be reformed, so that suits might be more certain in 
their issues, and costs not so great. Poor debtors were not to be 
kept in perpetual imprisonment. The excise was to be taken off 
the necessaries of life. Lastly, there was to be a redistribution of 
seats, giving more weight in the Commons to the chief centres of 
population. 

These propositions, with which Ireton was chiefly credited, were 
by far the most liberal towards all parties that had yet been 
brought forward. But we must not suppose that the officers in- 
tended to trust themselves or their friends to the generosity of 
Presbyterians and Royalists. Not a word was said about dis- 
banding the army. Had these offers been accepted, Cromwell, as 
privy councillor, member of Parliament, and general of a devoted 
army, would have stood by the side of the throne, the controller 
of the king's actions, and with a sword to repel attacks on religious 
toleration or civil liberty. Such a position was not what Charles 
held before the war ; but it was a tolerable position. The loss of 
the power of the sword was a great loss ; but Charles had put 
this question to the arbitrament of war, and had been beaten. 
He could not hope to be trusted with the sword by either Pres- 
byterians or Independents. But the Independents offered him 
great advantages. His religious convictions would be resjjected, 
and if he could not resuscitate the glories of the Laudian hier- 
archy, he at least escaped the establishment of the Presbyterian 
Church and the subscription of the covenant. The treatment 
of himself and his friends was liberal. Further, the Independents 
had the power to perform what they promised, which the Pres- 
byterians had not. They had not only the army with them,, 
but the country. Moreover, had Charles understood the country 
which he ruled, he would have seen that two or three years of 
real constitutional government, enforced or not, would have, 
cleared off the remains of his unpopularity, so that when the inevi- 



1647.] PARLIAMENT MOBBED BY PRESBYTERIANS. 219 

table reaction set in, the current would have carried him on the 
flood of popular favour into much of his former dignity and 
power. But this was not to be. Charles was, unfortunately, too 
astute to be wise. While outwardly treating with the officers, he 
was secretly dealing with their enemies, and as he wrote to his 
friends, "he was engaged either to Presbyterians or Indepen- 
dents, and whichever bid most for him should have him."* He 
was, in fact, hoping for a new civil war, which might end in his 
own restoration to absolute power. 

The impeachment of the eleven members not only cowed 
the Presbyterians, but put them in an actual minority. But 
though they lost command of the House, the city was still at their 
back, and when the Commons passed an ordinance, giving the 
command of the train-bands to Independents, London rose in 
tumult, and the citizens, flocking in crowds to Skinners' Hall, 
put their hands to an engagement to 'endeavour the king's 
return to his Parliament with safety, honour, and freedom.' 
Parliament passed a vote that all who joined in the engage- 
ment were traitors. On this, a mob of apprentices, watermen, 
and officers invaded the House with petitions for the restoration 
of the city militia to its Presbyterian officers, and for the return 
of the eleven members to their seats. Though the terrified Parlia- 
ment yielded to both these demands, their petitioners still barred 
the doors. " What question," said Lenthall, the speaker, " do 
you further desire to be put?" "That the king be invited to 
come to London with safety, honour, and freedom," shouted the 
rabble. " No !" cried the Eepublican Ludlow, at the top of his 
voice. The question, however, being put to the vote, was carried, 
in the midst of general noise and confusion, and Lenthall, at last 
released from his chair and hustled downstairs by the mob, was 
thankful to escape into the first coach he could find (26th July). 
On hearing of this adverse vote, the indignation of both officers 
and soldiers turned upon the king. They knew, or believed, that 
he had been at the bottom of the rising. " Sire," said Ireton, " you 
intend to be arbitrator between the Parliament and us, and we 
intend to be so between your Majesty and the Parliament." 
The Army Propositions were presented to him not- 
withstanding. To these Charles' refusal was so defiant, army propo- 
that it made his own friends stand aghast when they sltl011s * 
* Clar. State Papers, ii. appendix. 



220 ARMY MARCHES ON LONDON. [long pabl. 

heard it. First alluding to the exclusion of seven Eoyalists from 
the amnesty, " I will have no man suffer for my sake," he said. " I 
repent of nothing so much as that I passed the bill against the 
Earl of Strafford." He then added, that he wished Episcopacy to 
be established by law ; and repeated several times over, " You can- 
not be without me ; you will fall to ruin if I do not sustain you." 
Enraged with king and Presbyterians alike, the officers and soldiers 
marched on the capital, to teach the citizens to recognize their 
masters ; on the way, at Hounslow Heath, they met the speaker, 
accompanied by a hundred members of the Lower House and 
fourteen of the Upper, who in disgust at the violence offered them, 
sought refuge with the army (30th July). Meanwhile in London 
the shops were again shut, the drums beat, and new troops en- 
listed in the train-bands. But the hearts of the citizens began 
to fail them when they heard the army had already reached 
Hounslow Heath, and was still continuing its advance, after re- 
ceiving the fugitive members with shouts of joy (3rd Aug.). If a 
scout reported a halt of the army, the word in London was, "One 
and all ; live and die f if an advance, the cry was, " Treat, treat, 
treat." The Borough of Southwark refused to fight, and the 
Lord Mayor and City Council finally wrote to Fairfax that they 
quite concurred with him in wishing to restore the fugitive 
members. Thus the king's hopes were disappointed : all passed 
over without a blow ; the eleven Presbyterian members fled a 
second time ; the fugitive Kepublicans and Independents retook 
their seats (6th Aug.), and the whole army marched in triumph 
through London (8th Aug.). 

Cromwell, however, was aware that at least two-thirds of the 
nation still desired the king's restoration. He, therefore, con- 
tinued to treat with Charles. It was doubtful, however, whether 
it was any longer in his power to conclude a treaty, even if 
Charles would have made the required concessions. The distrust 
that had always prevailed of the king's good faith, had deepened 
into an absolute certainty. Kepublicans and sectarians had from 
the first disliked holding dealings with a man they regarded 
as the " chief delinquent, guilty of all the blood shed in the 
war," and now finding themselves absolute masters of city, 
Parliament, and king, they were far from thinking of allow- 
ing Charles any shadow of power. On seeing that Cromwell 
continued to treat, they openly talked of the " baseness of those 



1647. 1 THE LEVELLEES. 221 

who would for the sake of honours and office desert a Republicans . 
noble cause, and a second time enslave the people." sectarians, 
A report was soon credited in the army that Crom- refuse to ' 
well had been promised the command-in-chief of fongeVwth 
the king's armies with the title of Earl of Essex, king. 
and Ireton the government of Ireland, as the price of betraying 
their cause and their friends. The army had, in fact, been 
leavened by a new class of reformers, who had won over to 
their opinions a majority of both soldiers and officers. These 
reformers were nicknamed Levellers, being rather pure Democrats 
than Republicans. They disliked the House of Lords as much 
as the king, and their aim was equality of ranks and abolition 
of all class privileges before the law. Their leader, John Lil- 
burne, who began life by defying the Court of Star Chamber,* 
tried to stir the soldiers to mutiny against the generals. Crom- 
well knew that divisions in the army would only pave the way 
for the triumph of Presbyterians and Royalists. In that event 
his cherished cause, ' Liberty of conscience/ would be lost. He 
therefore determined on making his peace with his old friends, 
and giving up the attempt to effect a settlement by restoring 
Charles to the throne. In this he was perfectly justified, for 
there was no doubt that the king was acting insincerely towards 
the officers. " I shall play my game as well as I can," Charles 
said, in one of his sanguine moments. " If your Majesty have 
a game to play," replied Ireton, " you must give us also liberty 
to play ours." All this time Charles was placing his faith in 
the Scots, who, finding that the Independent army was not r 
after all, disbanded, nor the king restored to his throne, began to 
use menacing language, and to threaten an invasion of England. 
So well was Cromwell aware of the whole thread of the king's 
policy, that he told the royalist, Berkley, " he had in his own 
possession letters which showed that the king had commanded 
all his party to serve under the Parliament and the city, and 
that he had at that instant, when he made greatest profession 
to close with the army, a treaty with the Scots, which did very 
much justify the general misfortune he lived under of having 
the reputation of little faith in his dealings."t 

Charles, who was residing at Hampton Court, found his posi- 
tion altered ; his movements were more restrained ; his friends 
* See p. 73. t Ashburnharn's Narrative, 94. 



222 FLIGHT OF CHAELES. [loxg pabl. 

were shut out from his presence, and anonymous letters reached 
his hands, warning him that his life was in danger. Accompanied 
only by a servant and two friends, Berkley and Ashburnham, he 
fled from Hampton Court one dark stormy evening, and after 
riding hard all night arrived early the next morning at the 
eoast opposite the Isle of Wight (12th Nov.). Here, taking 
refuge the while in a neighbouring house, he sent Berkley and 
Ashburnham over to the island with instructions to extract 
from the governor, Hammond, a promise to grant his Majesty 
means of conduct to a place of safety. Hammond turned pale, 
and at first, in terror at the news, begged that the king 
might not be brought to the island, for "what between his 
duty to the king and his trust to the army, he should be con- 
founded." But he soon changed his mind, and became anxious 
to know where the king was to be found. " I will promise to 
perform," he said, " whatever can be expected of a person of 
honour and honesty." Though little confidence could be placed 
in such a vague expression of good-will, Ashburnham and Berk- 
ley, not knowing how to rid themselves of the governor's com- 
pany, undertook to conduct him and one other man, Captain 
Basket, to the royal presence. " Oh, you have undone me !" ex- 
claimed Charles, when he heard that they had brought Hammond 
with them, " for I am by this means mQde fast from stirring." 
tl Since what has been done does not please your Majesty," re- 
plied Ashburnham in tears, " I will kill the governor and the 
captain with my own hands." Charles took two or three turns 
up and down the room. " No," he replied ; " it would be said 
that he ventured his life for me, and I took it away from him. 
"We must go through with it now." Arrived at Carisbrooke, 
Charles felt in better spirits. Hammond treated him cour- 
teously ; gentlemen came to visit him, and being left at liberty 
to ride over the island he did not doubt of being able at any 
time to escape across the Channel. 

Cromwell has been accused of having purposely frightened 
Charles away from Hampton Court, with the intention of getting 
him more completely into the power of the army. He certainly 
wrote a note to Colonel Whalley, bidding him have a care of his 
guards, for " if any attempt should be made upon his Majesty's 
person, it would be accounted a most horrid act." He was also 
the first to hear from Whalley of the king's escape, and reported 



1647.] MUTINY OF LEVELLERS. 223 

the news to Parliament. But this evidence does not seem 
strong enough to support the conclusion drawn from it. Many 
of the Levellers were so unscrupulous that the rumours of an in- 
tended assassination were not likely to be without foundation. 
Cromwell's note, therefore, may have been intended simply as a 
caution to Whalley. Further, Cromwell could not have foreseen 
that the fugitives would seek refuge in the Isle of Wight ; in 
factj when there the king was not more but less in the power 
of the army than before. At Hampton Court, his keeper 
was Whalley, who was throughout on the side of the army, 
and was afterwards one of his judges ; whereas in the Isle of 
Wight he was under Hammond, who disapproved of the dealings 
of the army with the Parliament, and was afterwards removed 
from his post to make place for a surer man. Had he, on the 
other hand, escaped into Scotland, he would undoubtedly have 
soon been again in England at the head of an army, and 
Royalists by thousands been flocking to his standard. The 
obvious conclusion is that if Cromwell connived at the flight from 
Hampton Court, his desire can only have been to save Charles' 
life from the assassin's dagger, and to give him a chance of 
escape across the Channel. 

Cromwell had incurred unpopularity with the army by being 
too favourable to the king, and now had to turn his mind to the sup- 
pression of the mutinous spirit that had appeared amongst the sol- 
di era, Different regiments of the army were ordered to attend him 
at three several meetings. To the first meeting, held between Hert- 
ford and Ware, only three regiments were summoned. But when 
Fairfax and Cromwell arrived on the ground, they found that 
Robert Lilburne's regiment of infantry and Colonel Harrison's 
regiment of cavalry had come without orders. The soldiers, most 
of whom were Levellers, were in a state of great excitement, and 
had fixed to their hats copies of one of Lilburne's pamphlets, en- 
titled 'The Agreement of the People.' Fairfax read a remon- 
strance to the quieter regiments, reminding them of the good faith 
their chiefs had always shown them, and promising that he would 
support the demands of the soldiers, if they would obey the orders 
of their officers. This appeal to the soldiers' feelings was answered 
by shouts of approval. Even Harrison's troopers, on hearing the 
address, tore the copies of the ' Agreement ' from their hats, de- 
claring that they had been deceived, and would live and die wi + h 



224 CEOMWELL SUPPEESSES MUTINY. [long paul. 

their general. But Lilburne's regiment showed no signs of sub- 
mission. "Take that paper from your hats!" cried Cromwell; 
and when none obeyed, riding with drawn sword into the ranks, 
he ordered fourteen of the leading mutineers to be arrested. Old 
habits of discipline in the soldier, the commanding voice and 
gesture of the officer, produced obedience. A court-martial was 
held on the spot, and, out of three condemned, one soldier was 
shot to death in front of the regiment (Nov. 15th). The two 
following meetings went off quietly. 

Yet, though he had overawed them for the moment, Cromwell 
knew that these soldiers held the destinies of England in their 
hands, and that, if he would be their master and stay their hands 
from havoc, he must first regain their confidence. Several meet- 
ings were held between officers and adjutators, at which he and 
the officers admitted that the treaty with the king, entered into 
1 through the fear of man and want of a spirit of faith, had be- 
come a cause of division, to the danger of the blessed cause in 
which the army was engaged.' In thus speaking it is not to be 
supposed that Cromwell and his officers were acting the parts 
of knaves and hypocrites. It was an undeniable fact that, in 
treating with Charles, they had taken a wrong road to effect a 
settlement which would secure religious toleration and civil 
liberty. Charles had deceived them ; he had not only stirred up 
the city against them, but now at his summons a Scotch army 
was about to invade the country, while Royalists were preparing 
to rise.' In the divisions that had ensued amongst themselves, 
in the dangers that bow threatened them, they recognized a 
judgment of God on their own backslidings. The conferences 
concluded with "a very clear and joint resolution, on many 
grounds at large there debated amongst us, that it was our 
duty, if ever the Lord brought us back again in peace, to call 
Charles Stuart, that man of blood, to an account for that blood 
he had shed and mischief he had done to his utmost against the 
Lord's cause and people in these poor nations." * 

While this was the final resolution of the army, the Presby- 
terians in Parliament carried a vote that,, if the king gave his 
consent to four bills, granting the command of the militia to the 
Parliament, and revoking his declarations of treason against the 
two Houses, he should be allowed to come to London and treat 
* Somers, Tracts, vi. 



1647.] CHARLES' TEEATT WITH SCOTS. 225 

in person (Dec. 14th). Charles, however, rejected the bills ; for 
about the same time that they were presented, commissioners 
came from Scotland to Carisbrooke, and concluded a . . . 

C 1 113,1*1 GS* 

treaty with him on easier terms then had ever yet secret treaty 
been proposed. It was agreed that a Scotch army wlthScots - 
should enter the kingdom in the ensuing spring ; that the Cava- 
liers should rise at the same time ; that the Presbyterian Church 
should be established in England for three years ; and that 
the king should not be required to take the covenant or con- 
form to the public worship (26th Dec). The papers containing 
the terms were carefully closed up in lead, and concealed in a 
private house, for it would have been fatal to the king's character 
had their contents become known to the English Parliament. 
Charles, however, had, unfortunately, bat little character for 
honesty left with either party. Both Parliament and army knew 
he had made a secret agreement with the Scots, and ascribed his 
rejection of the- four bills to its true cause (27th Dec). Having 
delayed to escape until he had concluded the treaty with the 
Scots, Charles found that the opportunity was gone ; his guards 
were doubled, his friends dismissed, and his walks confined to a 
small garden. 

The Republicans seized the advantage offered them by the rejec- 
tion of the bills to venture on the boldest step they had yet taken ; 
they openly proposed, in Parliament, to exclude the king from 
the throne. " Mr. Speaker," said Sir Thomas Wroth, " Bedlam 
was appointed for madmen, and Tophet for kings ; but our kings 
of late have carried themselves as if they were fit for 
no place but Bedlam. I propose we lay the king by, propose de- 
and settle the kingdom without him. I care not what thronement - 
form of government you set up, so it be not by kings or devils." 

After a warm debate, the Presbyterians were beaten, and a 
resolution was carried by 141 votes against 92, that no more 
addresses should be made to the king by any person what- 
soever, without consent of both Houses, under penalties of high 
treason (3rd Jan., 1648). Yet, in spite of this success within Parlia- 
ment House, outside there were many signs of disaffection, which 
boded but a stormy birth for the young Republic An invasion 
from Scotland was expected ; the city was slow to lend money to 
pay the army, and hated the Parliament ever since the exclusion 
of the eleven Presbyterian members ; the country people were 

15 



226 CKOMWELL FOEESEES REACTION. [long pakl 

clamouring against the taxes and calling for the restoration of the 
king. Cromwell, hoping at least to effect cordial co-operation be- 
tween the friends of a common cause, brought together the ' Par- 
liament grandees' and the ' army grandees ' at a dinner at his own 
house. He there stated, as his own opinion, that either a mo- 
narchical, aristocratical, or democratical government might be 
good in themselves, or good for England, according to the direc- 
tions of Providence. The Eepublicans disputed both points. 
God, they said, had charged upon the Israelites their choice of 
Saul as a rejection of Himself ; therefore, monarchy could not be 
good in itself, any more than it could be good for England, to 
which it had been the main source of oppression. " It is our duty," 
they said, " to call the king to account for the blood that has been 
shed, and then to establish a commonwealth, founded upon the 
consent of the people, so that it may have their hearts and hands 
in its support." Cromwell, being pressed by Ludlow to declare 
himself plainly for or against a republic, flung a cushion at his 
questioner's head, and ran downstairs, to give some vent to the irri- 
tation he was obliged to suppress. Fools to talk of founding a re- 
public, with the consent of the nation ! when against it were not 
Eoyalists only, but Presbyterians and thousands of honest men 
who had taken arms against the king, not to abolish kingship, but 
to ensure their own liberties. " I see-," he said to Ludlow the next 
day, " that it is desirable, but not that it is possible ;" whereupon 
Ludlow angrily left him, suspicious of his intentions. For these 
Eepublicans had now become so deeply imbued with the idea that 
the only way to ensure England's liberties was by founding a 
commonwealth without king or House of Lords, that they disbe- 
lieved in the honesty of every one who doubted the efficacy of 
the nostrum. 

But the storm, which Cromwell had foreseen, now burst, and 
the presence of a common foe made Levellers, Eepublicans, and 
«irmy officers unite again. Great excitement had prevailed 
throughout the country since the vote passed against making 
further addresses to the king. Eeverence for their country's past 
combined with pity for their fallen monarch. Bands of the City 
militia would patrol the streets, stop coaches, and force their occu- 
pants to drink the king's health. Some apprentices, playing at 
bowls in Moorfields one Sunday, drove off a body of soldiers who 
would have stopped their game, and then marched to the City, 



1648.] SCOTCH PARTIES— HAMILTON'S INVASION. 227 

raising the cry of ' God and King Charles !' Joined on their way 
by thousands of sympathizers, they broke open an arsenal, placed 
chains across the streets, and remained masters of the City till 
the following morning (April 13th). 

In the country similar scenes were witnessed. In defiance of 
the soldiers, tumultuous crowds of country people assembled 
to raise the forbidden maypole, and were seldom dispersed 
without bloodshed, Rebellion followed tumult. The know- 
ledge that the Scots were coming to deliver the king from 
prison raised the drooping spirits of the Cavaliers. In "Wales, in 
Kent, in Essex, in Hertfordshire, in Nottinghamshire, in Corn- 
wall, in the western counties, the royal standard was unfurled. 
The same reaction extended to the navy. Seventeen ships of war 
sailed to Holland and offered their services to the PriDce of Wales. 
But the army had generals who were not slow to act, and troops 
such as the raw levies of the Cavaliers could not long resist. 
Cromwell soon triumphed in the west, and forced the Royalists 
to take refuge in Pembroke Castle (May). In the counties round 
London, after a fortnight's fighting, little remained of the royal 
forces, and this little was besieged by Fairfax in Colchester (June). 

There was serious danger, however, yet to come. Scotland, at 
this time, was a country divided against itself. The Covenanters 
had split into two parties. The first, headed by the Duke of 
Argyle, and supported by the Church Assembly, were indignant 
at the terms of the treaty their commissioners had made in the 
Isle of W ight. A war to replace a king who refused the Covenant 
seemed at once treason to their religion and a breach of their 
treaty with the English Parliament. The second, or moderate 
party, under the Duke of Hamilton, were ready to forgive any 
shortcomings of the king sooner than see Independents triumph 
over Presbyterians. In defence of the war they could argue, not 
without truth, that the purpose of their solemn league and cove- 
nant had been to establish the Presbyterian Church in England, 
.and secure constitutional rule, and not to enable Republicans 
■and sectarians to overthrow monarchy and secure liberty of con- 
science. The moderate party was strongest in the Scottish Par- 
liament, and, in spite of the opposition of the Church As- 
sembly, a vote had been passed to raise an army of 40,000 men 
to fight in defence of the Covenant and of the king. The service, 
•however, was not popular. Under Hamilton's commard some 

15—2 



228 



BATTLE OF PRESTON 



[LONG PAUL. 



20,000 came straggling into England, followed by the curses of 
the extreme Covenanters. Fairfax being before Colchester, Crom- 
well before Pembroke, the invaders marched loosely and confi- 
dently. On the 16th of August, Hamilton, with the main bodv of 




MAP OF LANCASHIRE. 



his army, was at Preston ; his horse at Wigan, more than ten 
miles in advance ; his rear straggling another ten miles behind, 
At Langridge, about four miles to the east, up the northern bank 



17th AUG., 1648.] BATTLE OF PEESTON. 229 

of the Eibble, was Sir Marmaduke Langdale and a body of 3000 
English Cavaliers. But security is not safety. Further east, 
another four or five miles up the same stream, at Stonyhurst and 
Clitheroe, was Cromwell, with an army of nearly 9000 men, a fact 
of which Duke Hamilton lay in complete ignorance. Pembroke 
had, in fact, surrendered just in time to allow the Ironsides to 
hasten north by forced marches, and meet the new enemy before 
tae had advanced far into Lancashire. In the morning Crom- 
well descended the stream of the Eibble on the northern bank, 
and attacked the Cavaliers at Langridge. Hamilton, believing 
the enemy to be merely some small body of Yorkshiremen, sent 
no reinforcements to Langdale, who, after a gallant resistance and 
four hours' hard fighting, was driven back from hedge to hedge 
into Preston town, the enemy following close at his heels, and 
charging through the streets. While the Cavaliers were fighting, 
the main body <af the Scots had been making their way in happy 
ignorance to the south side of the Eibble, intending to follow 
their horse. While in this plight, Cromwell fell upon them and 
-drove them off Eibble bridge before their rear had crossed. The 
troops thus left on the north bank of the river were cut to pieces, 
and chased to Lancaster with terrible loss (Aug. 17th). 

South of the Eibble, Hamilton held a council of war. Most of 
his officers were for pushing on the same night to Wigan, where 
they expected to find their horse. "But what," said others, "will 
become of our unfortunate ammunition, since forward with us we 
cannot get it?" "It shall be blown up by a train." said the duke. 
But, in the hurry and confusion of a retreat by night, it was not 
blown up, and the whole fell into the hands of Cromwell. The 
next moruing (Aug. 18th), after this "drumless march," the Scots 
found themselves at Wigan Moor, weary in body and depressed 
in spirit, for weather was wet and ways were bad, and the twenty 
thousand had dwindled to ten. The officers agreed to push the 
retreat on to Warrington, another ten miles south, where they 
hoped to take up a strong defensive position, and dispute the 
passage of the enemy at the bridge over the Mersey. But before 
their rear, which did not begin its march until the evening, was 
through Wigan, Cromwell was upon them. In the market-place 
the moon cast dim light upon a scene of inextricable confusion. 
The Ironsides charged the Scots' rear ; the Scots' horse dashed 
lieadlong onwards, and were received on the pikes of their own 



230 CROMWELL IN SCOTLAND. [long pabe. 

infantry, who cried out, " These are Cromwell's men I" They 
charged, however, so fiercely that the pikemen threw down their 
weapons and fled for refuge to the nearest houses. The same 
mistakes were repeated. "After this," says one who was present,. 
" all the horse galloped away, and, as I was told afterwards, rode 
not through, but over our whole foot." Such were the scenes of 
the night. In the morning (Aug. 19th), at a place called Ked- 
bank, two miles outside Warrington, a body of pikemen took ad- 
vantage of a favourable position to face about and dispute the 
ground with the enemy. After several hours' hard fighting, 
driven back at push of pike, they entered Warrington in company 
with their pursuers, and pressed on to the bridge over the Mer- 
sey, which was already held by their friends, and strongly barri- 
caded. Here, however, the three days' battle ended. Hamilton 
and the horse had made off some time before, sending word to the 
lieutenant-general of the foot to make as good conditions for him- 
self as he could. Officers and soldiers yielded themselves prisoners 
of war, being promised their lives and civil usage. Hamilton and 
his horse were caught in Staffordshire. Thus, as Cromwell wrote 
to the Parliament, did an army of 8600 men shatter and dissipate 
another of at least 21,000. Two thousand Scots were slain, and 
eight or nine thousand more made prisoners, without counting 
those destroyed or brought in by the country people * (August 
17, 18, 19). 

Cromwell, after his victory, marched with his army into Scot- 
land, where the extreme Covenanters had risen in arms against 
the friends of Hamilton's invasion. A peace was effected by his 
influence (Sept. 28th). The Engagers, the name given to those 
who served under Hamilton, were disqualified from serving in 
any public employment, but were left in possession of their pro- 
perty, on condition of disbanding their forces and renewing their 
allegiance to the Covenant. The government was thus left en- 
tirely in the hands of Argyle and other opponents of the late war. 
A few days after Cromwell's victory over the Scots in Lanca- 
shire, Fairfax brought the war to a close in the south. Subdued 
by famine, the gentlemen and officers shut up in Colchester sur- 
rendered at discretion, the soldiers upon promise of quarter (Aug. 
27th). Three of the garrison were condemned by a council of war 
to be shot. " It is necessary," Ireton is reported to have said,. 
* Carl., i. 279—295 ; Hodgson and Slingsby, Mem. 



1G4S.1 PAKLIAMENT ITNPOPULAK. 231 

"for the example of others, and to prevent the peace of the king 
dora from "being disturbed in this way again, that some should 
suffer.'' Fairfax, though always inclined to the side of mercy, 
agreed with Ireton. One, a foreigner, he reprieved ; the other 
two, who had both broken their word of honour not to bear arms 
against the Parliament, were executed. 

While the generals were engaged in fighting Royalists and 
Scots, the Presbyterians in London, taking advantage of the 
absence of many Independent members with the army, were 
doing their utmost to ruin the cause of civil and religious liberty. 
There were, without doubt, many members of the Parliament who 
would sooner have seen victory on the side of the Scots than of 
the Independents. In the Upper House this party was in a ma- 
jority, so that when the Commons voted that all Englishmen who 
should abet the invaders were traitors, the Lords actually refused 
to concur in the vote (July 18th). A persecuting ordinance was 
fulminated against sectarians (p. 203). The eleven Presbyterian 
members were recalled to their seats (June). The Presbyterian 
major-general, Huntingdon, presented to Parliament a paper, 
modestly entitled, ' Sundry Reasons inducing him to lay clown his 
Commission/ but really containing charges against his com- 
mander, which, in the event of the Scots' success, might have 
served to cost Cromwell his head. Even those Presbyterians 
whose feelings of nationality were too strong to suffer them to 
wish success to the invaders, were yet most eager to conclude a 
treaty with the king, and thereby sacrifice the cause for which 
the English armies were fighting. The vote of the 3rd of Jan- 
uary, forbidding any addresses to be made to the king, under 
penalties of treason, was now rescinded (June 30th), and, after 
some time had passed in preliminaries, fifteen commissioners were 
sent to negotiate the terms of a treaty with Charles at Newport 
(Sept. 13th). 

The Parliament had now exercised supreme power since the 
breaking out of the war in the year '41. Once looked upon as the 
saviour of the nation's liberties, it was now hated and despised. 
The causes of this were manifold. In the first place, however 
able and honest were some of its members, it had, as a body, been 
subjected to violence, and had sacrificed all consistency, voting 
one day to please the soldiers, another to please a City mob. A 
former Royalist member justly reproaches them with "voting 



232 TRIAL OF LILBURNE. [long pael. 

of members in and out so often ; voting there shall be no 
more addresses to the king, and then voting that there shall— a 
temper something like that of Henry VIII., who advanced men in 
a good humour he knew not why, and ruined them again in another 
he knew not why."* 

A second cause that brought the Parliament into disfavour 
with the people, was that both Houses of Parliament constantly 
trespassed on the liberties of the people by fining and imprisoning 
political offenders, under the pretence of breach of privilege, 
without showing legal cause or bringing the victims to trial. Yet 
the House of Lords, except in cases of impeachment or appeals 
from inferior courts, possessed an undisputed jurisdiction only 
over peers ; while the House of Commons possessed no judicial 
power at all, except in disputed elections and in cases of inter- 
ference with the free action of members. Lilburne had already 
signalized himself by attacking the encroachments thus made 
upon the liberties of the people. He had been committed to 
prison by order of the Lords (July, 1646), and it was two years 
before he succeeded in obtaining from the judges of the King's 
Bench his writ of ' habeas corpus.' It was not to be expected that 
in time of war a troublesome agitator should meet with other than 
summary treatment. Lilburne had attacked one of the two Houses 
under which he served, and, when imprisoned for this, had been 
writing pamphlets exciting the soldiers to mutiny. In such a case, a 
temporary suspension of the subject's right to a 'habeas corpus' was 
necessary and justifiable. It probably, however, did the Parlia- 
ment quite as much injury as if the man had been left at liberty. 
A revolutionary government, though surrounded by enemies, 
and with none of the prestige of an old-established regime to 
protect it, is none the less expected to show a far greater regard 
to the liberties of the subject than the government it has dis- 
placed. So now crowds of sympathizing spectators thronged the 
court when Lilburne demanded his liberty on the ground that 
the Lords acted illegally in calling any but peers to the bar of their 
House. The judges, however, supported .the jurisdiction of the 
Lords, and refused to grant Lilburne his release, on the ground 
that he had been committed by a superior court. Notwith- 
standing the decision of the judges, abuse of privilege was a real 

* " Letter of an Ejected Member " (printed 1648). 



£648.] FINANCIAL OPPKESSION. 233 

'blot on the administration : so was also the subservience the 
Parliament had shown. 

There can be no doubt, however, that what ruined the govern- 
ment in the opinion of the country at large was the bad financial 
administration. The other causes touched the men who thought 
and the men who felt ; but this weighed with the average men 
who did not either think much or feel much. Such men are four 
out of five in any community. As a rule they follow their 
leaders, but in England, if their pockets are once touched, they 
take a course of their own. These men the Parliament had 
alienated by bad finance. Properly administered, the revenue 
would have been more than sufficient to meet the expenditure. 
Its sources were numerous — the excise, the customs, the monthly 
assessment on land and goods, the compositions made by Royalists, 
and the seizure and sale of bishops' lands, crown lands, and the 
estates of those who preferred poverty and exile to having any 
dealiugs with rebels. Eut the machinery for collection was both 
oppressive and expensive. There was a bureaucracy of the worst 
kind, for the counties were put in the hands of committees, 
who levied the taxes, looked after Royalists' estates, and secured 
obedience to the government. It was said, indeed, that one half of 
the revenue was devoured by these committees and their officials. 
Large sums of money were lavishly granted by the Parliament to 
its adherents, sometimes as rewards for services, sometimes as 
payments of loans, borrowed at a high interest during the war. 
Adventurers who had joined the side of the Parliament as a 
paying speculation, succeeded in their object, making large fortunes 
either as members of Parliament or as members of county com- 
mittees. Colonel Birch, a merchant of Bristol, who had abandoned 
his business as unprofitable, and enlisted in the Parliament's 
army, was granted at different times the sums of .£1500, £800, 
and £4900, and in the year 1650 had so much spare capital that 
he bought bishops' lands to the value of £2000. While these liberal 
gifts were made, the pay of the soldiers was left in arrear. To 
meet the deficit, heavy extra impositions were laid on the country. 
Thus, in 1647, the people in many parts of Radnor, though they 
had already paid their six months' contribution, were required 
to raise an additional rate of three shillings for each foot soldier 
quartered amongst them. During the war Fairfax exacted from 
the city of Bath £90.000 in six months, in addition to twdve 



234 PARTIES IN COMMONS. [long pabl, 

months' pay, which had been previously granted. Thus, while 
men connected with the government grew rich, the tradespeople 
in garrison towns were being gradually reduced to beggary, and 
the country people in some places were almost starving. 
"Amazing," says Lilburnc in one of his pamphlets, "that so 
many men in Parliament, and their associates elsewhere, who 
pride themselves as the only saints and godly men upon earth, 
and have large possessions of their own, can take } T early salaries 
of ^1000, £3000. £6000."* 

From these various causes the House of Commons was unpopular., 
It war also divided against itself. It contained three chief political 
parties. First, the Presbyterians, eager to recover their former as- 
cendancy by making a treaty with the king ; secondly, the Repub- 
licans, whc aimed at getting rid of king and House of Lords ; 
thjj dly, Independents, still true to the cause of liberty of conscience : 
besides these were the lawyers and the waverers, who voted with 
the Republicans, either through dread of Presbyterian ascendancy,. 
or because, after long enjoying the sweets of power, they were 
loath to see the present Parliament dissolved. Outside the 
Commons' House was an army of between 20,000 and 30,000 men, 
at this time the real power in the land. The officers' views of 
sett'ement differed from those of the Republicans principally in 
*he following point, that while the Republicans wished the army 
ic act as an obedient servant in establishing their Republican 
ideal, the officers cared little about the form of the civil power 
as long as it carried out their own views of reform. The two 
parties, however, were closely allied, and, in fact, intermingled. 
A standing army had never before been known in England, and 
was as little loved by the people as the perpetual Parliament 
itself. Thus the officers, unable to rule in their own names, 
hoped to rule by coalescing with the Republicans. The Republi- 
cans, in their anxiety to found their own form of government, 
mistook the character and aims of their only and necessary sup- 
porters. The ranks of the army were really filled with sectarians 
and Levellers. The reforms these demanded were not theoreti- 
cal, but practical and popular — the abolition of imprisonment for 
debt, the lessening of lawyers' fees, an adjustment of seats to po- 
pulation, the meeting of new parliaments every year, and the re- 
form of the Church. 

* Memoirs of Col. Birch, 68, 96, 152, 236 ; Whitelock, Mem ; Hollis, Me- 
moirs; ' Fundamental Liberties of England vindicated,' in King's Tracts. 



1648.] NEGOTIATIONS AT NEWPOET. 235 

A Leveller has given us a picture of a meeting of officers, Kepub- 
iicans, Independents, and some of his own party, held during the 
autumn months, while the Presbyterians were treating with the 
king. " We intend," said the officers, " to cut off the king's head, 
and purge, if not dissolve, the Parliament." " We know," replied 
Lilburne, as the spokesman of the Levellers, " that the king is a 
bad man, but the army deceived us last year, and is not to be 
trusted. It is our interest to keep up one tyrant against the 
other, until we can know which tyrant will give more freedom. 
For we do not wish the government to develop into the wills and 
swords of the army, and we [be] dealt with as the slavish peasants 
of France, who can call nothing their own. An agreement must be 
drawn up before anything else is done." " There is no time," ob- 
jected an officer ; "the treaty between the king and the Parlia- 
ment will be concluded, and then you will be destroyed as well 
as we." " We must dissolve the Parliament," said Ireton for the 
officers, " for how else are we to get rid of it 1 It will never dis- 
solve itself." On the other hand, Eepublican and Independent 
members of the House opposed a dissolution, thinking a purge of 
their Presbyterian companions a far more desirable remedy, and 
by no means objecting to concentrating all civil power in their 
own hands. 

When such were the counsels of the men in power, the 
negotiations begun at Newport in September appear little better 
than a farce. There Charles was himself receiving, disputing, 
and. answering the propositions of the Parliament, which were 
the same as those offered at Newcastle. Two of the commissioners 
on their knees implored him to waste no time, but to grant on 
the first day all that he could on the last. It probably mattered 
less than they thought whether he yielded on the first or last day,, 
for where in either case was to be found the means to resist the 
will of the army, which was opposed to all compromise 1 At 
last, after protracting the negotiations over six weeks, Charles 
agreed to grant to Parliament the command of the militia and the 
government of Ireland for twenty years ; to suspend the power of 
bishops for three years, until a form of Church government should 
be agreed upon by himself and the two Houses ; and to allow 
seven of his friends to be excepted from pardon. How far, how- 
ever, he was sincere in making these concessions may be judged 
from his own letters. " Be not startled," he wrote to OrmoLd, 



«36 CHARLES AT HURST CASTLE. [ioso pasi. 

to nothing ° 0IlCeSSi0nS ab0ut Ire,ancl > f °r that they will come 

thonshta of * ime *"£ C1 ' ai y miU<i had beea «»»P«i witl, 

thoughts of escape He was beginning at last to real Le that it 

was possible orsubjects to take the life of an anointed kin. 

thee h : rd X dared kaVe the co « Qt 'T without first obtain^ 
the consent of his wife. The Prince of Wales might have sailed 
from Ho land with the revolted ships to attempts fathertre 
lease, but he made no effort. One day Char! s told Sir John 

cevTd?ieTte° f eq ", ently r SSed ^ '° ^ pe, that he had t- 

Sand il: l ir x its? seas> advisiug him uot to «° ° ut ° f «• 

ht head 9 « > m . the P ,° Wer ° f the ""V *» fuch a hah- of 
the r™t' t, ? J" C ,° Utmued > "«• I kwe made concessions, and 

^ advt r " < 6nd ' a " d eSpedaUy Si " Ce l W rec iTOj 
tins advice (you guess from whence it comes), I am resolved to 

stay here, and God's will be done." It was n fact Ms wife's 

wdl which was still to be done, till her fatalTnflue, h d finl 

ruined hm, The will of the army was soon shown. EegS 

a e reg.ment presented petitions to Fairfax demanding* 'that 

the same fault may have the same punishment in a king°or lord 

"ad in pIT ?""' A UUit6d Arm ^ P ~ tiance was 
-^ndZZfr ^eut, requirmg the House to set aside the treaty 
and pioceed aga.nst the king in a way of justice.' By a majority 
of nmety the Commons decided not to tike the A^vZ! 
strauce into consideration. 

On the 2nd of December they were debating whether the king's 
commons were sufficient to serve as a bask of peace. Mel! 

Faiiav T iTT- tekinS UP their < J Uarters ^ the City, and 

Fan fax was estabhshmg himself at Whitehall. "The debate 

mlt Our nt f de '" Said , Prynne ' " UUtil We » e a *Z Parlt 
bv the , » ^TrT* be withlibe ''tynowwe are environed 

ad beeTf ■ ? « , 7 (DCC - 40l) tbe "— Came that Cba ^ 
Hm-st Casir f hy ?^° l -»iers from Carisbrooke to 
Jiu.st Castle, a gloomy fortress on the Hampshire coast. The 
Presbyterians more indignant than alarmed, declared the honour 
of Parliament at stake, for it had voted that the king should 
t eat in honour, safety, and freedom. Prynne appeared as the 

Veal "MrT Vft imd i imeS ChaUged WitMQ the last ei gbt 
years. Mr. Speaker," he said, "all the royal favour I ever vet 

received from Ins Majesty was the slitting off my ears in a most 



dec. 6th, 1648.] PEIDE'S PUEGE. 237 

barbarous manner ; the setting me upon three several pillories 
for two hours at a time ; the burning of my books by the hand 
of the hangman ; the imposing two fines upon me of ,£5000 a 
piece ; expulsion from the University of Oxford ; above eight 
years' imprisonment without pens, ink, paper, or books except 
my Bible. If any member envy me for such royal favour, I only 
wish him the same badges of favour, and then he will no more 
asperse me for a royal favourite or apostate from the public 
cause." For hours he continued speaking, showing that there 
was no danger to liberty in accepting the king's concessions, and 
calling on the House not to sacrifice its freedom to fear of the 
army. " If the king and we shall happily close upon this treaty, 
I hope we shall have not such great need of their future service ; 
however, fiat justitia, mat coelum — let us do our duty and leave 
the issue to God." 

It was five o'clock on Tuesday morning before the House di- 
vided, when a resolution was carried by 140 to 104, that the 
answers of the king were a sufficient ground to proceed upon for 
a settlement of the kingdom. The next day (6th Dec.) was 
memorable as that of Pride's Purge A party of officers, headed 
by Ireton, had determined to put an end to what they considered 
Presbyterian dictation. Cromwell was on his way from Scot- 
land, and did not reach London till the next day ; and Fairfax 
was in ignorance of the designs of his officers. But by seven 
o'clock in the morning every approach to the Commons' House 
was barred by soldiers. At the door stood their officer, Colonel 
Pride, with a list of the proscribed in his hand. When a leading 
Presbyterian came up the staircase, Lord Grey of Groby pointed 
him out to Pride, and if the member refused to go away of his own 
accord, the soldiers forced him down the staircase. Forty Presby- 
terians were thus excluded, while several others were frightened 
and kept away of themselves. As the House refused to proceed 
to business until its absent members should be restored, the next 
morning the same scene was repeated, and forty more members 
were excluded (Dec. 7). A minority of twenty-six withdrew of 
their own accord ; the remainder, nicknamed the Pump, formed 
a House of fifty-three members, all bound to work in accordance 
with their friends in the army. 

First, in order to have a law by which to convict Charles of 
treason, the Commons voted that it was treason in the King of 



238 TRIAL OF THE KING. [rump pael 

England to levy war against the Parliament and kingdom ; next, 
in order to have a court by which to try him, they framed an 
Ordinance ordinance for making a special or High Court of 
Court of Justice, composed of men of their own party. As the 
Justice. House of Lords, though it had now dwindled down to 
twelve members, still had spirit enough to reject the ordinance 
unanimously, the Commons resolved, that whatever is enacted 
by the Commons has the force of law without the consent of 
king or House of Peers, and then passed the ordinance in their 
own name alone (Jan. 6th). 

The court first met in private in order to make preparations 
for the trial. 135 judges were named on the ordinance, but 
many refused to attend the sittings. Algernon Sidney came 
once, and interrupted the debate by saying, "The king can 
be tried by no court, and no man by this court." " I tell you," 
said Cromwell, " we will cut off his head with the crown upon 
it." " You may take your course, I cannot stop you," replied 
Algernon ; " but I will keep myself clean from having any hand 
in the business."* He then left the room and never returned. 
Sir Henry Vane retired into the country ; Fairfax attended the 
first meeting only. 

Charles had already been removed from Hurst Castle to 
Windsor, and after a few days was taken on to London. The 
trial was held in Westminster Hall. The judges, about eighty 
in number, sat upon benches, which rose one above another at 
the upper end of the hall. Bradshaw, Cromwell's cousin, sat on 
a chair of state as Lord President of the Court. Below the 
President's chair was a table, on which lay the sword and mace 
of the House of Commons. Twenty-one gentlemen, bearing 
'partisans/ were ranged on either side in front of the judges. At 
the other end of the table, opposite the President's seat, was 
placed a red velvet chair for the prisoner ; within a bar on the 
right-hand side of the prisoner's chair stood the three solicitors 
for the Commonwealth. Ladies and others were seated in 
galleries. The body of the hall was filled with a tearful, expectant 
crowd, separated from the soldiers by scaffoldings. The king was 
•conducted up the centre of the hall by a guard of soldiers. He 
did not raise his hat or show any sign of respect to the court, but 
after regarding his judges severely for some moments, turned round 
* Blencowe, Sidney Papers, i. 237. 



1649.] TEIAL OF THE KING. 239 

and inspected the crowds behind. Cook, the solicitor of the Com- 
monwealth, read the charge, in which Charles Stuart was accused 
of having endeavoured to overturn the liberties of the people, and 
of being guilty of all the murders and spoils under which the nation 
had suffered, "wherefore the people of England impeached Charles 
Stuart as a tyrant, traitor, and murderer." The king smiled visibly 
when he heard the words, " tyrant, traitor, murderer.'' He persist- 
ently refused to answer to the charge, asserting that the court had 
no lawful authority derived from the people of England by which 
to try him, and that therefore in refusing to plead " he stood 
more for the liberties of the people than did his pretended judges." 
Cook accordingly demanded that sentence might be pronounced 
against the prisoner, in accordance with the rule of law, that 
if the accused refuses to plead guilty or not guilty, his silence 
be taken as a confession of guilt. The king was brought before 
the court for the fourth and last time to hear his sentence read. 
The President had changed his black for a scarlet -gown. He 
spoke as follows : ' Gentlemen, it is well known to all, or most of 
you here present, that the prisoner at the bar hath been several 
times brought before the court to make answer to a charge of 
high treason, exhibited against him in the name of the people of 
England ' 

' It's a lie ! not one half of them. Oliver Cromwell is a 
traitor !' shouted a voice from one of the galleries. 

A violent commotion arose in the hall ; murmurs of indigna- 
tion amongst the soldiers, of applause amongst the crowd. The 
speaker was found to be no less a person than Lady Fairfax, and 
order with some difficulty having been restored, Bradshaw offered 
the prisoner for the last time leave to answer to his charge, before 
sentence was pronounced. " I desire," said the king, " to make 
a proposal to the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber, 
touching the peace of the kingdom and the liberty of the subject." 
The judges withdrew for half an hour, and on their return 
Bradshaw first informed the king that his proposal was rejected, 
and then made a long speech to justify the conduct of the 
Parliament, charging the king with having ruled as a tyrant, and 
thereby rendered resistance both a duty and necessity. "A 
great necessity," he said, " occasioned the calling of the Parlia- 
ment, and what your designs and plots and endeavours all along 
have been for the crushing and confounding of this Parliament 



24.0 TEIAL OF THE KING. [rump pare. 

hath been very notorious to the whole kingdom ; it makes mc 
call to mind that that we read of a great Konian emperor — by- 
the-way, let us call him a great Eoman tyrant — Caligula, that 
wished that the people of Borne had had but one neck, that at 
one blow he might cut it off. And your proceedings have been 
somewhat like to this, for the body of the people of England hatb 
been represented but in the Parliament, and could you but have 
confounded that, you had at one blow cut off the neck of Eng- 
land. But God hath reserved better things for us, and hath 
pleased for to confound your designs and to break your forces, 
and to bring your person into custody that you might be respon- 
sible to justice." 

The whole court stood up in sign of assent, while the clerk 
read the sentence, that Charles Stuart, as a tyrant, traitor, and 
murderer, should be put to death by the severance of the head 
from the body. 

The king appeared deeply agitated and now tried to speak, but 
as he had refused to plead before the sentence was given, he was 
not allowed to speak after, and the judges rose and retired. The 
king, in the midst of vain endeavours to make himself heard, 
was forced down the hall by the soldiers, who shouted in his 
ears, ' Justice ! justice !' ' Execution !' As he passed in his 
chair from Westminster to Whitehall, the windows, the shops, 
the streets, were crowded with people weeping and praying 
1 God to bless the king'* (Jan. 27th). 

On taking leave of his two youngest children, who were still 
in England, Charles bade the Lady Elizabeth, a girl of twelve 
years old, tell her brother James it was his father's last desire 
that he should no longer look on Charles as his eldest brother 
only, but be obedient to him as his sovereign. Then taking the 
little Duke of Gloucester on his knee, he said to him, " Sweet 
heart, now they'll cut off thy father's head ; mark, child, what I 
say, they'll cut off my head, and perhaps make thee a king ; but 
mark wha.t I say, you must not be king so long as your brothers 
Charles and James live ; for they'll cut off your brothers' heads- 
when they can catch them, and cut off thy head too at last ; and, 
therefore, I charge you not to be made a king by them.' ' I wili' 
be torn in pieces first/ said the child weeping.t Charles kissed^ 

* Herb., Mem., 168. 

+ Eusbwortb, vi. 604 ; Herbert, 180. 



jan. 30, 1649.] EXECUTION OF THE KING. 241 

them both, and bade Bishop Juxon have them taken away, while he 
turned to the window to hide his own emotion. The next morn- 
ing the king walked from St. James's to Whitehall amidst a 
guard of soldiers, with Juxon on one side and Col. Tomlinson 
on the other, talking to them on the way calmly and cheerfully. 
About noon he was conducted through a passage, made in the ■ 
wall of the Banqueting House at Whitehall, on to the scaffold, 
which had been erected in the open street. Men and women 
who had forced their way into tho hall uttered prayers in his 
behalf as he passed by. The soldiers throughout the whole occa- 
sion kept a deep silence, awed by the solemnity of their own act- 
On the scaffold, which was hung with black, stood two execu- 
tioners disguised in masks. Soldiers filled the space immediately 
below, so that the crowded spectators beyond could hear no word 
the king uttered. Charles died in the firm belief in which he 
ii)id lived, that in the quarrel between himself and his subjects 
lie had been always in the right, they always in the wrong. He 
addressed a short, cold speech to the few assembled on the scaffold, 
in which he asserted this belief, and then prepared calmly to die. 
" Hurt not the axe," he said to a gentlemen who touched its 
edge while he was speaking ; " that may hurt me." In the words 
of Marvell : 

" He nothing common did or mean 
Upon that memorable scene, 

But with his keener eye 

The axe's edge did try ; 
Nor call'd the gods with vulgar spite 
To vindicate his helpless right ; 

But bow'd his comely head 

Down, as upon a bed." 

" I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown," he said to 
the bishop, " where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the 
world." Then putting his head upon the block, he said to the 
executioner, " When I put out my hands this way, then — ; 
stay for the sign." Within a few moments the sign was 
given, and the executioner, holding the head up in his hand, 
cried to the people, " Behold the head of a traitor." 

By Charles' trial two issues were decided, the king's depo- 
sition and his execution. The two issues are distinct. That 
a king holds office for the good of his people, and, if he 
perverts his power to their injury, may justly be deprived of it 

16 



242 INSTANCES OF DEPOSITION. [rump parl. 

by their representatives, is a constitutional principle, which has 
"been acted on in the later as well as in the earlier years of our 
history. Forty years after the trial and execution of Charles I., 
Parliament resolved that his son, King James II., having en- 
deavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom by break- 
ing the original contract between king and people, and having 
violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself 
out of the kingdom, had abdicated the government, and that the 
throne had thereby become vacant. The crown which the House 
of Stuart thus for a second time forfeited, they proceeded to 
bestow upon William and Mary of Orange. For a hundred 
years, in fact till the death of Charles Edward in 1788, that the 
kings ruled by a Parliamentary title was not merely a theoretical 
principle, but the actual basis of the settlement of the crown. It 
was also one of the original principles of the nation. The Saxon 
kings were, in fact, elected, and the principle was partly recognized 
that what the nation gave, it could take away ; Sigeberht, 
iEthelred, Harthacnut were all deposed by the Witenagemot, or 
great council of the nation. Hereditary succession was not 
established as the rule in practice till the accession of Edward I. 
The sanction of the nation was added in doubtful cases. Nor 
did the Great Council, when transformed into the two Houses 
of Parliament, forget the use of its ultimate power of depo- 
sition. In 1327 the moral sense of the nation revolted at the 
conduct of its king. A bill, charging him with immorality, 
incapacity, cruelty, and oppression was read and admitted as a 
sufficient ground of deposition. By this, Parliament declared 
that Edward II. had ceased to reign, and bestowed the crown on 
his son. In 1399 thirty -three charges were read in Parliament 
against Richard II. The king was declared guilty on every charge, 
and his deposition pronounced. The scene was one which the 
great dramatist had made familiar to the nation. When, therefore, 
the court told Charles that he was responsible to the Commons of 
England, and was tried in the name of the people of England, 
they were introducing no new principle into the constitution. 
In such cases, the fictions of lawyers, which in ordinary times 
may often be useful as preventives against revolutions, are cast 
aside like gossamer threads, and the king, " who can do no 
wrong," stands arraigned as a common criminal. 

If Charles then had been merely deposed by Parliament, he 



1649.] EXECUTION OF THE KING. 243 

would never ha.ve gained the reputation he has had as a martyr. 
The justice and legality of the course taken to compass his death 
is, however, a distinct question. His trial and execution was the 
work, not of a full Parliament, but of a small minority which could 
make no pretence of representing the people of England. To carry 
out their end, this minority proceeded to violent measures which 
only circumstances of extreme necessity could justify. They 
excluded members by violence from the House of Commons ;* 
they virtually abolished the House of Lords ; they passed a 
.retrospective ordinance ; and, instead of exercising their function 
in Parliament according to precedent, they erected a new and 
arbitrary court of justice. 

It must, indeed, be said that a great advance had been made 
in the treatment of deposed kings since the fourteenth century. 
An arbitrary court and an ex post facto law are better than the 
secret murder which was the lot of Edward and Kichard. The 
light of day and the presence of the chief men of the nation gave 
the semblance of a fair trial. Even this semblance is less de- 
basing to the morality of the community than the sanction of 
murder by government. Compared with this, informalities were 
but a slight evil ; indeed it could scarcely be expected that a 
^constitution could provide special legal forms for the trial of the 

* This great blot on the proceedings was well hit by a remonstrance 
ruldressed to Ireton. " The godly and moral jealousy, I have over 
you and others related to the lieutenant-general, makes me present 
these few lines Surely of all others the change of laws and govern- 
ment had need to be done in full Parliament. But that it may be as 
near as possible the act of the whole people, as many as may be should 
be present, lest it fails of the esse of magmim consilium, or that the absence 
of many by a forced or legal impediment be not judged a just impediment 
to proceedings. And whether this Parliament be either a free or impartial 
one will abide disputed at least, and if ever time shall come in which ex- 
amination may be of things and present transactions in reference to this 
Parliament, who can tell if it may not be judged beyond the Earl of Straf- 
ford's fault, which was but arbitrary government, which is but a slighting of 

laws — much of this a total abolition of them? It may, perhaps, come to 

be said of your many dangerous ends and extraordinary actings, as the 
.Romans of Pompey the Great, his daughter, it was a fair and happy 
daughter, brought forth of an ugly and odious mother ; I wish it may be 
■so — only thus much, if you save the people of this land in the way } r ou are 
in, it must be both against their wills and prayers." "This I delivered to 
Ireton about a fortnight before the king's trial. Signed, John Clayton." 
See an unpublished pamphlet among Clarendon Papers in Bodleian, entitled, 
* : State Colours and Compactions, in which »*e reasons against the proceed- 
ings to try the king." 

1(3 — 2 



244 EXECUTION OF THE KINO. [rump pabi* 

chief of the State, who could never be tried except after a revo- 
lution. 

On the one hand it has been said that the people had been rent 
asunder into two great bodies, one engaged for the king, the other 
for the Parliament, and that, therefore, if Charles was to be put on 
trial for his life at all, he ought to have been tried, not by the- 
rules of common or statute law, but by those of international 
law, which obtain between foreign nations. These forbid that 
the victors should take the lives of the vanquished. It was, in 
fact, on these principles that the struggle had been maintained. 
Prisoners on either side had rarely been put to death as traitors, the 
fellow-feeling of the combatants, as well as the fear of retaliation, 
having prevented such cruelty. The rules of international law ap- 
plied as much to the leaders as to their followers. On the other 
hand, it was undoubtedly true that Charles was guilty in a sense 
in which no other leader was guilty, and no mere general could 
have been. For it was his deceptions, followed as they were by 
the refusal of the necessary Militia Bill, that caused the war. 
Had he read aright the history of the past, he would have seen 
that the great Edward's " pactum serva " contained the whole law 
for a constitutional king. Charles was not punished as a com- 
batant, but as the cause of the combat, in other words, for his- 
previous actions as a king. As for the rights of war, the Inde- 
pendent leaders could scarcely have doubted that, had the cases 
been reversed, he would have meted the same measure to them. 
The voice of the nation, however, was for clemency in the 
hour of their king's fall ; they did not think he had com- 
mitted such sanguinary crimes as justified the violation of law 
to accomplish his death. Thousands had fought on his side ; 
thousands who had fought against him wished to spare his 
life. His enemies might plead that they were acting in self- 
defence ; but if they counted on the king's death stopping the 
reaction, they greatly miscalculated. When Charles was dead, 
they had his son to deal with, who had not, as his father, lost 
the confidence of the nation. 

These objections were so strongly felt at the time, that several 
officers, and several Bepublicans, stood aloof from the whole pro- 
ceeding. Fairfax, Skippon, Vane, Algernon Sidney, exerted all 
their influence to prevent a trial for life, wishing to see the king 
merely deposed. On the other hand, the mass of sectarians, 



1649.] THE FEELINGS OF THE ACTORS. 245 

republicans, and Levellers pressed fox Charles' execution as 
a grand and signal display of justice ; one that had not its 
•record in history, and might serve as a warning to all crowned 
heads for the future. Charles, according to them, had broken 
his coronation oath, in which he swore to govern by the laws 
of the land, and had thereby been the author of the civil 
war, and the bloodshed attendant upon it. Any accommoda- 
tion was alike unsafe and wicked ; unsafe, because his dupli- 
city had been proved over and over again ; wicked, because of 
the express words to be found in God's law, that " blood defiletli 
the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is 
shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it."* " As for 
Mr. Hutchinson," s&ys his wife, " although he was very much 
confirmed in his judgment concerning the cause, yet being here 
called to an extraordinary action, whereof many were of several 
minds, he addressed himself to God by prayer, desiring the Lord, 
that, if through any human frailty he were led into any error, He 
would open his eyes and not suffer him to proceed — and finding 
no check, he proceeded to sign the sentence against the king. 
Although he did not then believe but it might one day come to 
be again disputed among men, yet both he and others thought 
they could not refuse it without giving up the people of God 
(whom they had led forth and engaged themselves unto by oath) 
into the hands of God and their enemies." 

Cromwell and Ireton placed themselves at the head of the move- 
ment they were powerless to prevent. There is no doubt that they 
sympathized in it. Only once does Cromwell allude to the execution, 
at least in the letters and speeches that still remain. " They," he 
says, " that acted this great business have given a reason of their 
faith in the action, and some here are ready, further, to do it against 
all gainsayers."t Such a decision as the Independent leaders had 
to make in regard to the execution of Charles I., shows what is 
•really terrible in revolutions. It is not that men carry their lives in 
'their hands, the soldier thinks nothing of that. It is that crises 
come then, when men cannot choose the good, cannot stand aside, 
but must choose between two evils, and see the evil of what 
they choose. At such a time many a man would gladly oppose 
both and fall ; but a leader is bound to the helm, though 
he may see no course but to run his ship on the rocks, and drown 
* Numbers xxxv. 33. t Clirl - u - 21 °- 



246 EXECUTION OF THE KING. [rump PAist. 

some to save many. This is what is most terrible in revolutions \ 
after the fact it is terrible to all ; it is terrible at the time only 
to the weaker or more delicate spirits. These birds of calm are 
caught by the storm and drowned while doubting. Not so the 
real leaders of revolutions. They ride upon the storm. They 
see but as the lightning flashes. To them the lesser evil seems 
a transcendent good. Charles had hoped by his intrigues to 
crush Cromwell ; he failed ; and Cromwell thenceforth looked 
upon him as hopelessly false ; as one who was destitute of that 
sense of truth between man and man, which was a necessity of 
political life. Such a man, if a ruler, he held, must be dealt with 
by banishment or by death, as an incurable evil of the common- 
wealth. His was a stern mind, and a mind into which an idea 
of privilege did not enter. There was with him no respect of 
persons. If he had no mercy on Lilburne's misguided Leveller, 
who endangered the fidelity of a regiment, he was as severe to 
the prince, who endangered the liberty of the country. Such a 
mind, intensely confident of its own sense of justice, never recoiled 
from its conclusion. If it could not draw back, still less could 
it conceal its purpose. As it abhorred secret murder, so it abhorred 
that lingering murder, which, while it shrinks from taking away 
life, shrinks not from taking away the means of life. If Charles 
was to die, it could not be by the lingering death Charles himself 
had assigned to Eliot. There was no secrecy in Cromwell's 
dealing with prince or private ; the one was given over to martial 
law before the eyes of his comrades ; the other was given as 
openly to no less stern inquisitors of blood. 

The world, however, has not judged as Cromwell did. And, 
though on grounds of abstract justice, it is hard to say why a 
king deserves a mercy which he has denied to his subjects, yet 
many faults will be forgiven to those who have had the diffi- 
cult task of governing others. Among the causes which have 
won an excess of sympathy for Charles, we observe the natural 
pity for the greatness of the fall, a disinclination to judge hardly 
of the fallen, but, above all, the deep-rooted sentiment of loyalty, 
which the restriction of prerogative has itself attached to the king, 
by making his throne the ideal element of the constitution, and 
thus so raising him above parties, that when his ministers do 
well, he receives the. honour, when ill, he can restore, or even 
increase, his own popularity by ridding himself of his advisers^ 



1649.] CAUSES OF SYMPATHY. 247 

Besides these general considerations, it will be remembered that 
the interpreter of his times for all the generations before our 
own, has been one who wrote in the full tide of the reaction, 
and who, as is now known, has not shrunk on occasion from 
suppressing truth, in his endeavour to palliate the faults of one 
side or blacken those of the other. The historian has been 
seconded so ably by the painter and novelist, that a Cavalier has 
been held the type of all that is noble, and a patriot of all that is 
mean. It will be noticed that the two classes by whom Charles 
has been most admired, have been the clergy, who may have 
been unconsciously biassed by a not unnatural antipathy to 
the religious theories of his opponents ; and those whose lives 
have brought them least in contact with public interests : these 
have judged him as one of their own society, and have been 
carried away by the many virtues of his private life, his courage 
in the field, his tender nature and his piety, as well as by the 
noble attitude in which these qualities sustained him at his death. 
Those, on the other hand, who have interested themselves 
deeply in the cause of the people, must perforce judge public men 
by what they have done for the nation. In their roll of martyrs 
will come not Charles, who died from reluctance to abandon boldly 
a prerogative which had been proved to be untenable and perni- 
cious, but Eliot, who died in defence of the necessary rights of 
the Commons' house, and the ransacking of whose most secret 
papers has only proved more clearly what was clear before, that the 
only ends he aimed at were his country's, his God's, and truth's. 
Those who look to national interests will hold that the first in- 
tellectual virtue of a ruler is an insight into the spirit of his time 
and the first moral virtue, a sympathy with his people's hopes and 
fears. As men may be too good fathers, if they use patronage as 
a vehicle of nepotism, so kings are too good husbands, when they 
give or withhold their consent to the nation's wishes according to 
the tempers or caprices of their wives, and too good churchmen, 
when they put one half of their subjects without the pale of 
toleration. This is not the sense in which, with kings, as with 
others, " England expects every man to do his duty." 



CHAPTEE XI. 

SOCIAL STATE OF ENGLAND. 

OIgQ' ovv on Kal dvQpoj-wv tidr) roaavra dvdyKrj Tporrcjv eivca, 
Zaatrsp Kal 7ro\miwv ; rj o"a.t tic Sovoq TroQtv ?/ Ik Trtrpag rag 7ro\iTiiag 
yiyveaQai, aW ou%l tic tiov 7)QCjv tCjv tv tcJq iroXtaiv, a dv loGTrep 
pexpai'Ta rdWa t<pt\icv<7r]-ai. 

You are doubtless aware that the varieties of human character must in- 
volve a corresponding number of constitutions. Or do you think that the 
constitutions we see are foundlings from the woods and rocks, and not the 
legitimate offspring of the moral dispositions of the members of each State 
which, so to speak, turn the scale, carrying the whole balance with them? — 
Plato, Rep., vii. 2. 

The population of England, now over three and twenty mil- 
lions, and increasing two more every decade, numbered, in the 
middle of the seventeenth century, but about five and a half 
millions. Commerce was too insufficiently extended, too little 
of the soil had been brought under cultivation, too little science 
introduced into the processes of manufacture and agriculture, for 
the country to provide food or employment for a large number of 
inhabitants. 

The largest and most important trading towns were in the ■ 
southern half of the kingdom. London contained about 500,000 
inhabitants, a sixth of its present population. The population of 
Bristol, the next place to London in size, was not 30,000. The 
large manufacturing towns in the north were just beginning to 
rise into importance. Sheffield, where knives were made, con- 
tained between 2000 and 3000 inhabitants ; Leeds, a great seat 
of the woollen manufacture, between 3000 and 4000 ; 5000 or 
6000 formed the population of Manchester, where cotton, im- 
ported from Cyprus and Smyrna, had been manufactured for the 
last thirty or forty years. 

It is now acknowledged that the result of granting to persons 
or classes special privileges for the conduct of any trade or manu- 
facture can only be to destroy competition and so raise prices to 
the injury of the consumers, for the supposed or real advantage 



SOCIAL STATE ] MONOPOLIES. 243 

of a few. Nor is this the whole of the evil. "Wages can only 
come out of capital, and when capital lies idle and is checked in 
its natural growth by a narrowing of the market and an arti- 
ficial enhancement of price, then wages are checked as well. In the 
seventeenth century, however, these principles were Trade and 
not understood, and trade was shackled by restrictions, commerce, 
imposed sometimes by the Executive, sometimes by the Legisla- 
ture. The monopolies granted by Elizabeth, James I., and 
Charles I. were especially injurious, because the owners of each 
patent were so few, that they were enabled, by combining to- 
gether, to force upon the consumer a bad article, and at the 
same time to raise its price and tax the public for their own 
benefit. Though the granting of monopolies was forbidden by 
statute law in James' last Parliament (1623), the practice was 
continued until the Scotch war, when Charles recalled all patents, 
in the hope of regaining some of the popularity he had lost. 
Though, in this case, the evils of interference were very clearly 
felt and seen, yet there was no perception of the principle that 
trade flourishes most when left alone ; and the interference of 
Parliament was often invoked to protect both producers and 
traders against their own countryman and against foreigners. 
For instance, indigo was brought from the Indies to Europe, and 
was soon largely employed in the place of woad for dyeing cloth, 
as the dye was richer, and the process cheaper ; but when 
farmers, merchants, and carriers, engaged in the woad trade, 
found their employment decreasing, they raised a loud outcry 
against the new dye, saying that it injured the material of the 
cloth : on this the governments in England, Germany, and 
France forbade the use of indigo, branding it with the name of 
the ' Devil's dye.' An act, passed in England to this effect, under 
Elizabeth, remained in force until the reign of Charles II., so 
that the price of cloth was artificially raised, for nearly a century, 
through the interference of the government. 

Nations, like individuals, gain by being allowed to interchange 
their goods freely. Each can then expend its labour and capital 
upon those branches of industry for which it possesses special ad- 
vantages, while it has its own wants supplied at the least possible 
cost, by taking from other nations those products which they can 
supply more cheaply than itself. For these imports the nation pays 
by exporting, in exchange, the superfluity of its own special pro- 



250 MEECANTILE SYSTEM. [sociax 

ducts. Legislators of the seventeenth century believed, however 
in the mercantile system, which assumed that money was wealth, 
and that the more money a country contained, the more prosper- 
ous it would be. Money, however, is, of course, only one form of 
wealth, although the medium of exchange for all other wealth. 
If the amount of coin in a country was doubled, and none of it 
allowed to quit the country, its true wealth, its corn, stock, its 
mineral produce, and the like, would not be doubled also. A rise 
of prices would result. Where one shilling had been paid before, 
two shillings would now have to be paid. Everybody's pocket 
would be heavier, but nobody would be any the richer. Govern- 
ments, however, from a belief in the mercantile system, tried to 
prevent the importation of goods, in order to stop money from 
going out of the country, and encouraged their exportation, in 
order to bring money into the country ; and the more exports 
and fewer imports of a people, the more prosperous they were 
supposed to be. Hence it followed that nations were jealous of 
one another's trade, and it was thought a happy thing for Eng- 
land, that while she was at peace, the Continent was devastated 
by "war, because she was likely to find fewer rivals to compete 
with in foreign markets. Heavy duties were laid on articles of 
importation, in order that the country, instead of buying them 
of foreigners, might, if possible, produce them at home. Such 
duties could only be pernicious. They compelled consumers to 
pay high prices ; they did not provide extra employment for 
Englishmen, because the same amount of labour and capital, 
given to industries more suited to the climate, the soil, or the 
character of the people, would have served to buy the protected 
articles from foreigners, and left a surplus over, to be employed 
upon further production. 

During the sixteenth century, merchants trading to foreign 
parts had generally obtained charters from the crown, incor- 
porating them. into companies with special privileges. Tims the 
Foreign trade with Russia was monopolized by a 'Russian 
bands of Company/ incorporated in 1554 ; that with the Low 
companies. Countries and Germany by the ' Merchant Adven- 
turers,' who were incorporated as early as 1407. One company 
traded with Norway, Sweden, and Denmark ; while the ' Turkey 
Company ' engrossed the trade with the Levant. The fact that the 
members of these companies were generally Londoners, helps 



state.] TKADING COMPANIES— EAST INDIES. 251 

to explain the great size and wealth of the capital compared 
with other ports. In the year 1604, the sum received in the 
port of London for customs and imposts amounted to ,£110,000, 
while that collected from the same sources in all the rest of the 
kingdom only to £17,000. At the accession of James I., the 
French trade alone was open to merchants not members of the 
companies. This monopoly of the foreign trade excited great 
discontent among the excluded, and, in 1604, a bill to throw open 
foreign commerce passed the Commons, but was rejected by the 
Lords. An act, however, was passed in 1606, granting liberty of 
trade with France, Spain, and Portugal ; and the Turkey Com- 
pany was formed on a new footing, so that all who paid a certain 
subscription were allowed to become members. Commerce grew, 
aud the long peace that lasted from the beginning of the century 
until the breaking out of the civil war, was so favourable to its 
extension, that, if the accounts of writers of the time may be be- 
lieved, the progress of the present century has hardly been in a 
greater ratio than that which prevailed in all but the war decade.* 
In the year 1600, three years before James' accession, the 
first charter was granted to an East India Company, ' freely and 
solely to trade into countries and parts of Asia, Africa, and 
America, beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of 
Magellan/ Without the licence of this company, no merchant 
might trade in all this sea, upon pain of forfeiting ships and 
cargoes. The first trading stations or factories on the coasts of 
India, and in the West India islands, had been established by the 
Portuguese. Jealous of the appearance of strangers, the Portu- 
guese starved and imprisoned Englishmen unfortunate enough to 
fall into their power, and, by blocking up the river mouths, pre- 
vented English vessels from approaching the trading town of Surat, 
which was then the emporium of the western coast of India (1606). 
English captains, however, by defeating the Portuguese with a 
smaller number of ships, greatly impressed the natives with an 
idea of English courage and seamanship. The enterprise of 
English merchants soon made its way inland to Agra, then the 
seat of government of the Great Mogul, and obtained from him a 
charter, granting their countrymen liberty to trade. English 
trading stations were established in Sumatra and Java, and 

* Hallam, Lit. of Europe, iii. 457. 



252 JEALOUSY OF DUTCH. [social 

at last, in spite of the opposition of the Portuguese, an Eng- 
lish factory was founded at Surat (1612). In 1616, there 
were nine factories in India alone, one in Japan, besides 
many in Celebes, Borneo, and other of the East India islands. 
About the same time as the English, the Dutch also opened 
a trade with the East. The Portuguese had made themselves 
so detested through their cruelties, that the natives willingly 
joined with the newcomers in driving them from their sta- 
tions. But by the time that they had quitted the field, com- 
mercial jealousy arose between the English and the Dutch. The 
seven united provinces of Holland, ever since they had won their 
Commercial independence of Spain, had prospered to such an 
prosperity extent, that the number and activity of their inhabi- 
tants was the marvel of every traveller. The English 
merchant service could not cope in number with the vessels the 
Dutch sent annually to France, Spain, Norway, Russia, Germany, 
and the East. The herring fisheries off the English coasts were 
mostly carried on by Dutch fishing-boats, called busses. The 
most valuable export of England was wool in the raw or manu- 
factured state ; but the Dutch were so much the better workmen, 
that they imported large quantities of wool from England, and 
having worked it up into cloth, made their money by selling 
it again to foreigners, including the English themselves. They 
possessed further a large carrying trade ; for, having the true in- 
stinct for business, and being content with a low rate of interest, 
when combined with security of payment and quickness of re- 
turns, they became the carriers of Europe, buying the produce of 
one country and selling it to another, requiring such a small 
profit in addition to the original cost of the goods, that merchants 
of other nations did not care to compete with them.* 

As the English showed a more enterprising spirit, and an in- 
tention of extending their trade, they awoke the jealousy of 
their neighbours in Holland. The seamen of the two nations 
had already come into unfriendly contact off the coast of Spits- 
bergen, where whale fisheries were carried on. The English, the 
Dutch, and the Danes, each making a preposterous claim to the 

* " It cometh many times to pass," says Bacon, ' that ' materiam superabit 
opus' — that the work and carriage is more worth than the material, and en- 
rieheth a State more-; as is notably seen in the Low Countries, who- have the 
best mines above ground in the world." — Bacon's Essays, xv. 



state.] DUTCH IN EAST INDIES. 253 

dominion of this island and the surrounding waters, used to de- 
mand toll of all foreign vessels in return for licence to fish. It 
was rare, however, for the demand to be enforced, as the mer- 
chants of each nation took the precaution of sending out a fleet 
sufficiently strong to resist the claims of all opponents. In the 
East Indies, the Dutch, relying on James' well-known dislike to 
war, made outrageous aggressions on English merchants and 
traders. They drove the English out of the Molucca islands, 
and would have massacred them in Japan but for the interference 
of the natives (1619). At Amboyna, one of the Moluccas, they 
murdered ten Englishmen on a groundless charge of conspiracy 
(1623). Erom this time, though the two countries continued 
nominally at peace, constant fighting took place upon these 
Eastern waters between the sailors of the Dutch and English 
East India Companies. Little lav/ prevailed at sea, and a 
merchant vessel, if a safe opportunity occurred, felt no shame 
in taking up the calling of a pirate. The English were 
finally driven from several of their settlements, and the affairs 
of the East India Company languished in consequence. 

The principal imports from the East were silk, indigo, and spices. 
From Turkey, besides gems, came silk, cotton, and yarn. 
Coffee was first brought to England by a merchant be- 
longing to the Turkey Company, who set up a coffee-house in 
Cornhill (1652). From that time coffee-houses multiplied in 
London, and became favourite places of resort. Tea, though 
commonly drunk by Europeans in Surat, was not imported to 
England in any quantity before the end of the century. The 
principal exports which England exchanged for her Expor t s . 
imports were her wool and cloth, with tin and lead. 

In 1606 James I. had incorporated by charter two companies 
for the colonization of America. The one called the South Vir- 
ginian Company, or London Adventurers, was autho- colonization 
rized to colonize the territory which now forms the of North 
States of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ; the coast. 
second, or Plymouth Company, the territory which forms the 
modern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England 
States. Neither company was to form any settlement within a 
hundred miles of land previously colonized by the other. The 
first, or London Adventurers, indeed, set to work at once, and 
colonized Virginia (1G07). Maryland, however, was not colonized 



254 AMEEICA COLONIZED. [social 

by them, but through the exertions of Lord Baltimore, who 
obtained from Charles I. a charter, granting him the country to 
hold of the crown for himself and his heirs (1634). The 
Plymouth Company was simply obstructive. The earliest 
colonists in New England were the Pilgrim Fathers, a body of 
persecuted sectarians. Having obtained leave from the London 
Adventurers, on hard terms, to settle in Virginia, they were 
carried by a treacherous captain in the bleak months of winter 
to the coast of Massachusetts, where, fighting hard with cold, 
hunger, and disease, they founded Plymouth (1620). But though 
their endurance had conquered nature, it had still to struggle 
with the ' laws in defence of trade.' The fact that the original 
Plymouth Company had never succeeded in founding a single 
colony did not impair its exclusive rights ; and, without the con- 
sent of that company, " not a ship might sail into a harbour from 
Newfoundland to the latitude of Philadelphia; not a skin might 
be purchased in the interior ; not a fish caught on the coast ; not 
an emigrant tread the soil."* In 1624, the company was fiercely 
assailed in the House of Commons. " Your patent," said Coke, 
to one of its members, " is a monopoly ; and the ends of private 
gain are concealed under colour of planting a colony. . . . Shall 
none visit the sea-coast for fishing 1 This is to make a monopoly 
upon the seas, which wont to be free. If you alone are to 
pack and dry fish, you attempt a monopoly of wind and sun." 
On the coast of Maine private adventurers were soon emboldened 
to plant fishing stations, which gradually ripened into colonies. 
The company, howevel^so far maintained its exclusive privileges, 
that it used to sell patemSTo individuals aud companies, autho- 
rizing them to colonize vast tracts of country. Thus Charles- 
town was founded in 1628. A company bought Massachusetts 
and founded Salem (1629). Connecticut was colonized from 
Massachusetts (1636). By the middle of the century, the whole 
line of coast reaching from Newfoundland to Florida, and many 
of the West India islands, were studded with settlements. The 
principal imports from these colonies were tobacco, grain, and 
fish. 

The influx of wealth from these extensions of trade was enor- 
mous ; but though wealth, where it falls on worthy shoulders, 

* Bancroft, Hist, Am. i. 



state.] EXTRAVAGANCE IN DRESS. 255 

brings refinement, in many it breeds mere luxury and ostenta- 
tion. There was immense extravagance in dress and style of 
living ; this was especially displayed in London, before the as- 
cendancy of the Presbyterians. Ladies, while they followed the 
fashions in wearing paint and patches upon their faces, vied with 
one another in the amount of gold they could show broidered on 
their silks and satins. Gentlemen would 

' Wear a farm in shoe-strings edged with gold, 
And spangled garters worth a copyhold ; 
A hose and doublet which a lordship cost ; 
A gaudy cloak, three manors' price almost ; 
A beaver band and feather for the head, 
Prized at the Church's tithe — the poor man's bread.'* 

The costume was picturesque enough. A broad-brimmed 
beaver hat, adorned with feathers ; the long and curling hair 
shown off by a lace collar ; a doublet of silk or satin, with 
slashed sleeves ; a short cloak hanging over one shoulder ; 
breeches reaching to the knee, and finished off with ribands ; 
silk stockings and shoes adorned with rosettes ; a sword-belt, 
with weapon attached ; and the whole set off with jewels and 
gold lace. 

In many the leisure which wealth gave was well employed. 
Intellectual activity, a love of music and of art, a spirit of 
enterprise and research, distinguished the upper and Tjp pe r 
educated classes of society. Sir John Eliot's previous classes culti- 
studies enabled him to employ his years of captivity 
in writing a philosophical treatise. At that 'college situated 
in purer air,' as Hyde called Lord Falkland's house near Oxford, 
men, who afterwards took different sides in the war, used to meet 
and discuss their different opinions, whether scientific or social, 
political or religious, with the happy freedom of friendly inter- 
course. Sir Robert Cotton formed an antiquarian and historical 
library, whence the popular leaders drew stores of precedents 
on which to base their defence of their country's liberties, in 
their struggle with the prerogative. On a trivial excuse, Sir 
Robert was imprisoned by order of the Council, and his library 
put under lock and key. "I went several times to visit and 
comfort him," wrote one of his friends in the year 1630. "He 
would tell me they had broken his heart that had locked up his 

* The Water Poet (temp. Charles I.) 



256 ART AND KNOWLEDGE. [SOOIAI 

library from him." He remained in prison for several months, 
and died in the spring of the following year (1631). Though men 
such as Falkland, Eliot, and Cotton were the elite of their class, 
they were also its representatives. Noblemen and gentlemen com- 
monlv made collections of pictures, antiquities, ancient armour, 
bronzes, and medals ; and took interest in scientific discoveries. 
The barometer, the microscope, the telescope, were all instru- 
ments newly invented. Glamorgan, Charles' agent in Ireland, was 
renowned for his mechanical skill. In love of art, Charles was at one 
with some of the first of his enemies. He made a fine collection of 
pictures, medals, and curiosities of all kinds, and treated English 
and foreign artists liberally. Eubens, who was sent to Charles 
as the Spanish king's envoy, painted for him the ceiling of the 
Banqueting House at Whitehall, built by Inigo Jones for 
James I. Vandyke passed the best years of his life in England ; 
and though Charles' weakness may be read in eyes and mouth 
on his canvas, yet the painter has done much to foster the ideal 
conception of the cavalier-king. Walker, an English painter, has 
left several portraits of Cromwell. But love of knowledge, of 
art, of antiquities, would never have created the greatness which 
shone out in the English character during the great rebellion. 
The enterprise and patriotism of the Elizabethan age remained 
unimpaired, and was spiritualized by religion. Except the 
courtiers, all classes, lettered and unlettered, seemed inspired by 
fidness of belief and earnestness of purpose. Men were unselfish 
and faithful, ready to risk fortune and life in their cause. Hence 
the first New England colonies struggled into existence through 
a terrible ordeal of cold and want. Hence the appearance of 
men with the heroic qualities of Eliot* Hampden, Pym, Vane, 
and Cromwell, rising up one after another, to lead the way in 
defence of liberty. Hence the devotion with which the perilous 
cause of the Parliament was embraced by thousands, while the 
result of the war was yet doubtful ; and the unquenched hope 
with which Cavaliers met the ruin of themselves and their 
families, clinging to the cause of their master after all was lost. 

Puritan tradesmen and yeomen had played a leading part in 
accomplishing the overthrow of the government of Church and 
State. These denounced the pursuit of pleasure as vanity, if not 
actual sin. Discarding jewels, lace, silks, and satins, they dressed 
themselves in plain black suits, long black cloaks, and high 



btate.J THE STAGE AND COUET. 257 

steeple-crowned hats. Many went so far as to exclaim against 
music, art, and profane learning, as temptations of the devil, that 
divert the thoughts from God. Yet their fanaticism, however 
exaggerated, had its apology in the exaggeration of the opposite 
principles, as well as in the grandeur of the religious movement 
from which their feelings sprang. The character of the stage had 
been deteriorating ever since the death of Elizabeth. The plays of 
Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massinger, were far coarser in language 
and spirit than those of the earlier dramatists, and, from their 
low moral tone and the character of their plots, were but too often 
calculated to make the theatre a school of vice. The courtiers 
©f James I. and Charles I., amongst the most constant of play- 
goers, were not only absurdly extravagant in their dress, but 
often outrageously profligate in their lives. The latest historian 
of English literature observes how at this period of the stage, ' the 
noble chivalric paganism' of the sixteenth century had degenerated 
into 'a base and coarse sensuality.' Elizabeth's old courtiers, 
though by no means straitlaced, were astounded at the licence of 
James' court. Sir John Harrington thus describes an entertain- 
ment given by James in honour of the King of Denmark. " The 
ladies abandon their sobriety, and are seen to roll about in intoxi- 
cation. . . . The lady who did play the queen's part (in the 
masque of the Queen of Sheba) did carry most precious gifts to 
both their majesties ; but, forgetting the steps arising to the 
canopy, overset her caskets into his Danish Majesty's lap and fell 
at his feet, though I rather think it was in his face. Much was 
the hurry and confusion ; cloths and napkins were at hand to 
make all clean. His Majesty then got up and would dance 
with the Queen of Sheba ; but he fell down and humbled himself 
before her, and was carried to an inner chamber and laid on a 
bed of state, which was not a little defiled with the presents of 
the Queen, which had been bestowed on his garments ; such as 
wine, cream, jelly, beverage, cakes, spices, and other good matters. 
.... Now did appear in rich dress Hope, Faith, and Charity ; 
Hope did essay to speak, but wine rendered her endeavours so 
feeble that she withdrew and hoped the king would excuse her 
brevity ; Faith left the court in a staggering condition. Next came 
Victory, who after much lamentable utterance, was led away 
like a silly captive, and laid to sleep on the outer steps of the 
ante-chamber. As for Peace, she most rudely made war with 

17 



PURITAN AUSTERITY. [social 

her olive touch, and laid on the pates of those who did oppose 

er cVmL I ne'er did see snch lack of good order, discretion, 

her «m, Mi ^^ ^ ^ ^^ days _„, Thotlgh char l es 

Immorality Wmself was not addicted to the coarser vices, and re- 
SnSf ouired the forms of propriety to be observed in his 

£Sted court, be bad no such bated of vice as to cause him 
SSiSt to select his friends or companions from amongst men 
ff o£ p U1 -e lives. Neither Buckingham, the kings 

favourite, nor Lord Jermyn, the queen's favourite made the 
tot pre ence to purity of morals.t The example of courtiers 
Ltd its weigbt in influencing the conduct of the classes ; beneath 



Liora oevinyn, wc i uw " u ~ 7 

to purity of morals.t The example of courtiers 
lt in influencing the conduct of the classes beneath 
*hem Gentlemen from the country came up to London and 
ruled themselves in trying to keep pace with a fashionable hf e 
Idlers of all ranks spent their days drinking, smoking, and 
Ambling in tavern, When such was the order of the day 
LongsTthe pleasure-seeking classes of society, it was no matter 
Jwonder that, by a revulsion of feeling, the more earnest 
amongst the uneducated should seek refuge from vice m austerity 
of life° and that amusements, constantly abused, should come to 
be regarded as wicked and demoralizing in themselves. It was 
a noble di^ust at whatever was really lowering to human nature, 
that led the Puritans into the error of trying to suppress vice by 
^ te nancing games and sports that had delighted many 
generations of Englishmen. Thus it was that theatrical exhibi- 
tions of all kinds were put down by ordinance of Parliament; 
spectators were ordered to be fined ; actors to be whipped at the 
cart's tail The dance round the maypole, the wrestling match 
on the village green, were proscribed. Christmas-day, kept from 
time immemorial as a feast, was turned into a solemn fast. Music 
and art had been taken into the service both of Lauds Church 
and of levity ; they were therefore regarded as accessories to 
the spread of Popish superstitions and laxity of life, and against 
them a like war was waged. Paintings and sculptures were 
removed from churches, and organs were forbidden. Though, in 

wiiu 3, as it first led Hyde, a connection of the lady into acorre- 
7ZZ .1 with the king, whom Hyde tried to get to act firmly in the 
Ser Such misconduct, however, in no way impaired Jermyn s influence 
S the queen, who not only supported him against the king at home, but 
afterwards kepi him by her as her constant companion abroad.-LisxBR S 

LlSfc OF CliA-ttENDOff. 



state.] THE PUEITAN GENTLEMAN. 259 

many cases, the ravages done by time, war, spoliation, and neglect 
have been unfairly put down to the Puritans, yet in others there 
is little doubt that works of art which had been spared for their 
beauty and antiquity at the Eeformation, were now wantonly 
defaced and destroyed by the ignorant and fanatical soldiers who 
fought in the armies of the Commonwealth. It would be unfair, 
however, to class all Puritans together as holding upon these points 
the same opinions. Like other great religious movements, Puri- 
tanism, beginning with the people, spread upwards, and in its 
course became subject to the influences of education and class 
feeling. Hence there were numbers of Puritan gentlemen, whose 
minds knowledge had rendered too liberal, or in whom the pride 
of birth was too strong to allow them to adopt the habits, lan- 
guage, and ideas of their more ignorant and fanatical companions. 
Rembrandt's etching of the Dutch Anabaptist minister shows 
a face by no means wanting in intelligence, refinement, and 
capacity for enjoyment of life. Mrs. Hutchinson's description 
of her husband, an Anabaptist officer, presents us with a 
picture of the Puritan English gentleman, as he appeared at 
the time when Puritanism was most in repute : — " He could 
dance admirably well, but neither in youth nor riper years made 
any practice of it ; he had skill in fencing, such as became a 
gentleman ; he had a great love of music, and often diverted him- 
self with a viol, on which he played masterly ; he shot excellently 
in bows and guns, and much used them for his exercise ; he had 
great judgment in paintings, gravings, sculpture, and all liberal 
arts, and had many curiosities of value in all kinds ; he took much 
pleasure in planting groves and walks and fruit-trees ; he left off 
very early the wearing of anything that was costly, yet in his 
plainest negligent habit appeared very much a gentleman : upon 
occasions, though never without just ones, he would be very 
angry, yet he was never outrageous in passion. He hated per- 
secution for religion, and detested all scoffs at any practice of 
worship, though such a one as he was not persuaded of it. 
Wherever he saw wisdom, learning, or other virtues in men, he 
honoured them highly. His conversation was very pleasant, for 
he was naturally cheerful. Scurrilous discourse even among 
men he abhorred. His whole life was the rule of temperance in 
meat, drink, apparel, pleasure." Milton, the poet of the Puritans, 
was a Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Italian scholar. Fairfax 

17—2 



WANT OF HUMANITY. L^iai. 

and Cromwell both gave manuscripts and books to the newly- 
folded Bodleian Library at Oxford. The Presbyterians, in- 
Zd during their ascendancy, passed an order in Parliament, 
that all superstitious pictures in the king's coUections should be 
bult the'remainder sold. For the sale the Parliament has 
received more censure than it perhaps deserves. Charles himself 
would no doubt have denied that his valuable collection was in 
any sense the nation's property ; but, in the year 1643, when the 
exigencies of the war were very great, it was hardly to be ex- 
acted that the Parliament should hesitate to confiscate and sell 
the kino's movables, more than those of any minor delinquent. 
It is said that Cromwell, on becoming Protector, tried to keep 
the remainder of the collection together, and put a stop to the 
sales* Nor was this the only point in which his largeness of 
mind made him tread in opposite footsteps to the Presbyterians. 
Though unable to obtain the repeal of persecuting laws, yet when 
the executive came to lie in his own hand he often suffered them 
to be broken with impunity. Himself a lover of music h e placed 
an organ in the palace at Hampton Court, where he often retired 
for Sunday. Plays, written by Sir William Davenant were 
Worked at the cockpit in Drury Lane (1658), while strolling 
players again acted at country places, and in the houses of the no- 

bl Much of the savage violence of the middle ages still remained 
in the midst of the increased refinements of life that wealth and 
knowledge were bringing in their train The custom of society 
did not require that the smallest effort should be made to control 
mssion Every gentleman wore his sword by his side, and was 
ready to draw it on provocation, and it was no uncommon occur- 
rence for a man to be wounded in the presence of ladies in conse- 
quence of some drunken brawl. Amusements were cruel ; bull- 
baiting, bear-baitiug, and cock-fighting delighted all classes m 
town and country, till they were suppressed by Cromwell. The 
greatest subsequent advance of morality and refinement has been 
m this question of cruelty. There was then a general callousness to 
the sight of pain. The humanity of those who have signalized 
our own age by carrying laws to check the ill-treatment of 
animals, would . then have had first to check the brutalizing 

* Harris, Life of Cromwell. 

f Evelyn, 196, 261 ; Chambers, 5b9, 599. 



state.] STATE OF PEISONS. 261 

punishments which the law itself inflicted on men. The sight 
of human beings in torment failed to awaken feelings of in- 
dignation or of pain sufficiently strong to cause a reform of the 
criminal law. Women who had murdered their husbands were 
burned alive in Smithfield. Men were yearly hung by hundreds 
for paltry thefts. Prisoners were so neglected that they often died 
of disease and starvation before the time of their trial came on. 
Town and county gaols were miserable and filthy dens unfit for 
the habitation of man or beast. In the following century, 
Howard thus describes the gaol for the county of Cornwall at 
Launceston : " The prison is a room or passage 23 1 feet by 7^ 
feet, with only one window 2 feet by 1^ ; and three dungeons or 
cages on the side opposite the window ; these are about 6| feet 
deep, one 9 feet long, one about 8 feet, one not five feet ; the last 
for women. They are all very offensive ; no chimney, no water, 
no sewers, damp earth floors, no infirmary. The court not secure, 
and prisoners seldom permitted to go out into it. Indeed, the 
whole prison is out of repair, and yet the gaoler lives distant. 
I once found the prisoners chained two or three together. Their 
provisions were put down to them through a hole (9 inches by 8) 
in the floor of the room above, and those who served them often 
caught the fatal fever. I found the keeper, his assistant, and one 
prisoner all sick of it, and heard that a few years before many 
prisoners had died of it, and the keeper and his wife in one night." 
Though dungeons and fetters were, as a rule, reserved for felons, 
debtors were in some respects worse off than the highwayman, 
the housebreaker, and the murderer. To these last it was usual 
to allow a pennyworth or two-pennyworth of bread a day, but 
debtors and other offenders guilty of no criminal, often of no 
moral, offence were left to provide entirely for their own susten- 
ance. In the London prisons a wealthy man, such as Sir John 
Eliot by paying high fees could provide himself with the luxury 
of a bed and a separate room, but the ordinary prisoner slept on the 
floor in the common apartment, thankful if he could obtain of his 
keeper a little straw at a reasonable rate. As a rule, keepers and 
coolers received no salaries, but made fortunes on the fees they 
extorted from prisoners. Men might be confined in prison for 
months, and then acquitted at the assizes, and, after acquittal, were 
still liable to be dragged back again and locked up because unable 



262 SUPERSTITIONS. [social 

or unwilling to pay the exorbitant fees demanded. It was not 
seldom that the sufferings of the prison inmates were avenged in 
a fearful way. "The most pernicious infection," says Bacon, 
" next the plague, is the smell of the gaol where the prisoners 
have been long and close and nastily kept, whereof we have had 
in our time experience twice or thrice, when both the judges that 
sat upon the gaol and numbers of those who attended the busi- 
ness, sickened upon it and died." Between the years 1573 and 
1579, 100 prisoners died in the King's Bench of ' a certain con- 
tagion called the sickness of the house.' Without knowledge of 
what the prison was, it is not possible fully to appreciate the 
cruelty of the sentences of the Star Chamber, nor yet the 
heroism of those who accepted an imprisonment of indefinite 
length, rather than pay an illegal fine. When this Court ordered 
Lilburne to be ' laid alone, with irons on his hands and legs, in 
the wards of the Fleet, where the meanest sort of the prisoners 
are put/ and forbade any to resort to him or give him money, 
the sentence was nothing short of a lingering death by disease 
and starvation. If it had been literally carried out for many 
months, the prisoner must have died.* 

Credulity and ignorance walking, as they do, hand in hand, 
added to the cruelty of the age. Knowledge had not spread 
far enough to free the minds of men of a load of superstitious 
beliefs, handed down to them by their forefathers. The cavalier, 
afraid of no enemy in the field, would forebode evil to himself 
when a hare crossed his path, or the salt was overset. The clergy- 
man of every parish was ready to exorcise the possessed. Ladies 
hung round the necks of the sick a charm, such as ' a spider in a 
nutshell lapped in silk,' with full belief in its efficacy to effect a 
cure. A belief in such amulets inspired hope, and probably 
saved many from falling by the hands of the country doctors of 
the time. An eclipse of the sun was so dreaded that hardly any 
would work or turn out of their doors for the day. During the 
war, astrologers on both sides published almanacs, foretelling 
events. King James prided himself on his learning in this subject, 

* Though a committee of Parliament was appointed to investigate the 
state of prisons in 1729, no reforms were made for another half century. In 
1773 John Howard began his tour of inspection. He lived to see many 
reforms introduced, both in the condition of prisons and the treatment of 
prisoners, the results of his own noble efforts. 



state.] BELIEF m WITCHCRAFT. 263 

and had an old woman tortured and put to death, in Scotland, 
for raising a storm as he came from Denmark. He after- 
wards wrote a book on purpose to support the common be- 
lief in witchcraft ; and in the second year of his reign a law 
was passed, making it felony to consult or employ any evil spirit. 
On one occasion at the Lancashire assizes nineteen witches 
were arraigned, and ten executed. The history of the witchcraft 
laws is the strongest homily on the necessity of diffusing such an 
education as will stimulate the intellect to independent thought. 
The vagaries of independent thought may be corrected by the 
conflict of minds, but bigotry with its narrow zeal cramps the 
development of all, while it deals murder or terror broadcast. 
Any withered decrepit old woman was liable to be at once 
feared and abused by her neighbours as a witch. Perhaps 
in her irritation she might curse " sometimes one, sometimes 
another, and that from the master of the house, his wife and 
children, to the little pig that lyeth in the sty ;" then, did a 
sick cow die, she had bewitched it ; did a child languish, she was 
causing its death, for she had been seen by one of her neighbours 
with a clay or waxen image of the child in her hands. Such 
proofs of witchcraft were quite sufficient to convince a jury that 
the accused was guilty. Men conceived that because an object 
was disagreeable and revolting to the eye, it must therefore have 
a sinister influence on their fortunes, just as conversely the beau- 
tiful wise women of the Norsemen were held to have a beneficial 
power. It was the common fallacy of inferring facts from feel- 
ings- -of judging that there was necessarily some reality in 
nature corresponding to a feeling in the mind. Special de- 
lusions arise, when men shut themselves up in some little world 
of their own, and the conceptions of the Puritans made them pe- 
culiarly liable to this error. During their ascendancy, hundreds 
suffered death for witchcraft, for just as they believed in special 
providences for good, that is in God's continual interference with 
the ordinary course of the world for the support of His servants, so 
they believed in the immediate interposition of Satan with horn 
and hoof, and would as soon have denied the power of one man 
to make an agreement with another, as that of man or woman to 
form a compact with the devil. A common ordeal was to prick 
the witch with pins and needles, to find out if the devil had 



231 THE NOBLEMAN. [social 

rendered any spot insensible : another was to throw her into a 
pond, and if she did not sink, it was held a clear proof that she was 
rejected by the baptismal element. In one year of the Presbyterian 
domination fourteen witches were found in a village of fourteen 
families, and twenty more were selected for burning in a place near.* 
About the same time, a man, by name Hopkins, travelled through 
the eastern counties in the character of a witch-finder, and caused 
sixty psrsons to be hung in Suffolk alone. His career at last was 
stopped short by some magistrate, who, wiser than his fellows, set 
the villain himself to the swimming ordeal. The belief in witch- 
craft was universal in Europe at the time. If a judge had no 
belief in witchcraft, he was obliged to conceal his opinion on the 
Bench, as otherwise the jury would have set him down as a man of 
no religion, and declared the accused guilty forthwith.f 

Though the social system of the country showed a painful 
contrast between boundless wealth and hopeless poverty, and 
though the laws of debt and of trade caused a needless amount 
of misery, yet as compared with previous times, the barriers of 
privilege were not so unrelaxing, the lines between classes were 
not so hardly drawn. The Procrustean arrangement of the feudal 
system had long been gradually modified. The revolutionary 
spirit now tried to eliminate it from the law. The gentry were, 
in fact, eager themselves to change an honourable but irksome 
tenure into one that they had once looked upon as inferior, but 
the freedom of which they had now long coveted. The Long Parlia- 
ment passed a resolution for the removal of feudal tenure (24th 
Feb.). Cromwell, when Protector, passed an Act of Parliament 
to the same effect. After the restoration, Cromwell's acts were 
held invalid, but Charles II. gave his consent to a similar act, 
converting feudal tenure into common socage. The king was then, 
indeed, not merely a nominal landlord. Feudal tenants had to 
pay him fines before entering upon their estates. If the heirs 
were minors he appropriated their rents until they came of age. 
A female ward was required to marry any person of suitable 
rank, proposed by the sovereign, under penalty of paying a heavy 
fine ; in fact this was one of the perquisites of favourites. Pines 

* Whitelock, Mem., 450. 

f Soger North, Life of Lord Guildford ■ Somers, iii. ; Trial of Lancashire 
Witches. 



btate.] THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 26S 

were exacted when the sovereign's eldest son was knighted or 
his eldest daughter married. 

The chief sources of the wealth of the nobles and richer 
gentry were the rents received from their tenantry and the 
wool of their sheep, which browsed by thousands on heaths 
and pasture lands. Their houses were large and commo- 
dious. Stag heads, muskets, swords, and coats of armour 
decorated the sides of their halls. The walls of their sitting- 
rooms were often painted with figures, hunting landscapes, or 
curious designs ; tables, chairs, and cabinets, were richly carved. 
In the dining-room, the substitution of forks for fingers in eating 
was a notable advance in refinement. There were displays of plate 
for ornament, as well as for use. The households of some of the 
chief nobility consisted of as many as two hundred persons. At the 
Duke of Beaufort's house at Badminton, soap, candles, beer, and 
beds were all home-made. Outside their mansions the owners 
formed terraces, bowling-alleys, and tennis-courts, planted groves 
of elms, oaks, and walnuts, and enclosed large parks, which they 
stocked with deer. They laid out gardens adorned with statues, 
fountains, and aviaries, and cultivated what were then rare flowers 
and fruits — lilies, roses, cherries, pomegranates, and grapes. The 
eldest son inherited his father's dignities and estates. The younger 
passed into other employments, became barristers or merchants, 
held office at court, or sought their fortunes in foreign service. The 
girls were educated at home, and learnt, besides their letters, 
music, dancing, and painting.* 

The ordinary country gentleman held land by knights' ser- 
vice of some superior lord, or of the crown. He lived the life of 
a farmer, looking after his corn and pigs and sheep. He seldom 
left his county, and a journey to London would be a leading event 
in his life. Besides cock-fighting and bull-baiting, hunting was 
his chief amusement. His talkie was plentifully supplied, and he 
was generally hospitable to his poorer neighbours. Sheep and cat- 
tle could not be fattened, as clover and turnips were not grown until 
the beginning of the next century, so that in winter time his fare 
consisted mainly of salted meat, fish, wild fowl, and rabbits. If he 
was justice of the peace, he had half the business of the parish 
upon his hands ; to see that the peace was kept ; to set children 

* Life of Lord North; Beesley, Hist, of Banbury; Cullum, Hist, ci 
Hawsted ; Evelyn, Diary. 



266 THE YEOMAN. [sociae 

found growing up idle to work ; to receive the accounts of the 
overseers of paupers ; to punish rogues and vagabonds. But as 
in the army and the Parliament, so in the country parish, new 
men had risen into importance ; and now, perhaps, some yeoman 
or Eoundhead tradesman, a buyer of bishops' lands, was justice 
of the peace, in place of the Eoyalist knight or squire, who, 
having fought for King Charles, had been obliged to compound 
for his estate, and returned to his home to find himself a com- 
paratively poor and uninfluential man. This was felt bitterly, 
for the Cavaliers who swelled Charles' armies, though not refined 
over their cups or in their amusements, were as proud of their 
descent as the greatest noble in the land. The children learnt 
their letters at home, or at the village school, some " little house 
by the churchyard side." The eldest son inherited his father's 
land ; the younger became merchants, lawyers, sailors, and clergy- 
men. The daughters, though getting a share of what education 
there was, for all that, often could barely read and write, but 
were brought up to be good housewives, to manage a dairy, to 
bake, to brew, to distil water from flowers and plants. 

Small farmers, or freeholders, were numerous and independent. 
It was common for yeomen holding land by free socage* tenure to 
possess £40 or £50 a year. Of these petty proprietors, who farmed 
their few acres with their own hands, there were reported to be 
180,000, a large proportion out of a population of 5,500,000. 
Their sons became tradesmen and lawyers, or entered the 
church. Sometimes very distinguished men rose out of their 
ranks. Thus the father of Seidell, the lawyer and great Hebrew 
scholar, is said to have been a yeoman worth about £40 a year.. 
The sectarian army, which conquered the Cavaliers, was mainly re- 
cruited from freeholders and their sons. Small farmers, proprietors 
of the soil, who once played this important part in English history, 
can no longer be said to exist as a class, large farms and hired 
labour having taken their place in the economy of the country. For 
more than a century preceding the time of the civil war, their 
Decrease in numbers had been slowly decreasing. The demand for 
small erS English wool in foreign parts was constantly rising, so 
farmers. that to keep sheep became a more profitable occupa- 
tion than to grow corn. To convert arable into pasture land, 
landed proprietors would sometimes employ fraud, menace, or 
* See p. 2. 



state.] THE LABOURER. 267 

actual violence, in order to dispossess the small farmers of 
their Naboth's vineyards. Whether these small farmers were 
tenants holding land for life or a stated number of years, or were 
copyholders, or even freeholders, it was no easy matter for the 
owner of a few acres to withstand the ' little tyrant of the fields/ 
who might possibly be justice of the peace, or even lord lieu- 
tenant of his county. 

The following is an instance of landlord oppression in the 
reign of Charles I. : — Sir Edward Bullock, wishing to enclose 
land in Norfolk, informed his tenant, Blackhall, that unless he 
would consent to sell his lands and yield up his leases, he should 
be made to ' run the country.' Blackhall, in consequence of his 
refusal to part with his property, found his hedges broken down, 
his gates opened, and himself sued at law for trespass, because his 
cattle had strayed out upon the common. The verdict was given 
against Sir Edward, who vowed to be revenged upon Blackhall's 
witnesses. He caused the house of one to be pulled down, so that 
the owner's wife and children passed two nights in the streets, for 
nobody dared take them in ; and they " being afterwards by a 
justice's direction received into a house, Sir Edward so threatened 
the owner, that he turned them out of doors, and all the winter 
they lay in an outhouse, without fire, so that the witness himself, 
his wife, and one child died." He caused a second witness, a 
woman, to be so beaten, that she could not put on her clothes for 
a month afterwards. The Star Chamber fined Sir Edward ,£1000 
damages to the king, and £100 damages to Blackhall, ' out of 
which something was to be given to the children of the man 
whose house was pulled down.'* After such a tale of wrong, it is 
cheering to find that substantial justice was done, even by the 
Star Chamber, though it may be said that now the offences would 
receive a much severer punishment than a fine, and that the 
records of the court show it was only too glad to fine any rich 
man, as a means of recouping the exchequer, when the king had 
dispensed with Parliaments. 

Although villeinage had long died out in England, and had 
been suppressed even in the western counties before the latter 
part of Elizabeth's reign (1574), the condition of the hired labourei 
was such, that, from a modern point of view, he could not fairly 
be called a free man. His employers, the landowners, passed 
* Rusliworth, Abr., ii., 191. 



268 POOE LAWS. [sociAl 

laws which kept him in a state of half -bondage to themselves. 
His wao-es were fixed by the justices of the peace, according to 
the price of food. If he refused to work at the wages offered, or 
went out of his county in search of higher wages, he became in 
the eye of the law a rogue and vagabond. The laws against such 
were exceedingly severe. Any person for the first time found 
< wandering or roguing about/ was to be whipped on his naked 
back until his body was bloody, and then sent from parish 
to parish straightway to the place of his birth; or, if this was 
not known, then to 'the parish where he last dwelt for the 
space of a year (49th Eliz., 1597). " Poor Tom," says Edgar, 
in King Lear, when he pkys the madman, a who is whipped 
from tything to tything, and stocked and punished and impri- 
soned." In order that the vagrant might be recognized, he was 
to be branded on the left shoulder with the letter R, and if a 
second time found begging or wandering about was to be adjudged 
a felon and hanged (2nd James I., 1604). This barbarous law, 
though probably not often enforced to its whole extent, was quite 
in keeping with the criminal legislation of the time, which con- 
demned the thief, who stole any article above ten shillings in 
value, to die as a felon on the gallows. 

Before the sixteenth century lords had naturally been expected 
to provide for the old age of their villeins, whose lives had 
been spent for their profit. But after villeinage became ex- 
tinct, private charity was not openhanded enough to maintain the 
impotent poor, and the Government found it necessary to legislate 
in their favour. During the sixteenth century, the earliest of 
the poor-laws were passed. Statutes of Heniy VIII. empower 
the justices of the peace to give licenses to impotent persons to beg 
within certain limits, and also order collections for the relief of the 
poor to be made in church on Sundays and holidays (22nd, 27th 
Henry VIII.). In the reign of Elizabeth, laws were passed, ren- 
dering these alms compulsory, and appointing in every parish 
overseers of the poor. These overseers Were to consist of the 
churchwardens, together with three or four householders, to be 
appointed by the justices of the peace. The justices of the peace 
were further ordered to build houses of correction in waste places, 
where the impotent might be maintained, and the strong found 
idling or out of employ be set to work (5th, 43rd, 49th Eliz.), No 
means, however, were taken to see that these statutes were put 



state.] LAW OF SETTLEMENT. 269 

into force ; wanderers were branded, but workhouses were not 
built. "I have heard rogues and vagabonds," sa}'s a pamphlet 
writer, " curse the magistrates to their faces, for providing such 
a law to whip and brand them, when no place is provided to set 
them to work." These complaints were not ill-founded ; and, in 
1610, a statute was passed, that justices of the peace who neg- 
lected to build houses of correction should be fined £5 each. James 
I., in alarm at the beggars in London, usurped the legislative power, 
and issued a proclamation to the effect, that as rogues grew to be 
dangerous to himself and his court, they were to be banished to 
Newfoundland, the East and West Indies, Spain, or the Low 
Countries. Though the poor laws of Elizabeth and James do not 
forbid the labourer to remove from the place of his birth, they 
practically prevent migration by classing the man who is without a 
master, or refuses to work at the wages offered, under the same 
category as rogues and vagabonds. The Law of Settlement, 
passed immediately after the .Restoration, actually bound the 
labourers to the soil (1662). It enacted that if any person came 
to settle in a parish and occupied a tenement under the yearly 
value of ,£10, the justices of the peace should have power to re- 
move him back to the parish where Le was last settled for the 
space of forty days. Eoger North, writing in 1688, thus described 
the fatal effects of this pernicious law. " Surely, it is a great im- 
prisonment, if not slavery, to a poor family to be under restraint 
by law, that they must always live in one place, whether they 
have friends, kindred, employment, or not. Such persons, if they 
had spirits, have no encouragement to aspire to a better condi- 
tion, since being born poor and in a place which gives no means 
to be otherwise, they are not allowed to go and search it else- 
where ; and if they find it, they are not permitted to entertain 
it. Then their spirits sink, and they fall into a sottish way of 
living, depend on the parish, who must however wretchedly 
maintain them." Two motives prevented the repeal of a law 
which was thus early allowed by intelligent men to be in- 
jurious — the one, the selfish desire of employers of labour to 
force the labourers to take work at the wages offered ; the other, 
the selfish desire of ratepayers to limit as far as possible the num- 
ber of poor in their own parish.* In the reigns of James and 

* The law, having thus forbidden the labourer to move from his parish t~> 
seek work for himself, was compelled to provide for him. P the over- 



270 THE LABOUEER. [social 

Charles I. a labourer generally received from eightpence to one 
shilling a day, or from four shillings to six shillings a week, with- 
out board. As, however, four shillings then would buy as much 
as fourteen now, his living was not inferior to that of many agri- 
cultural labourers at the present time. So much land, moreover, still 
remained unenclosed, that he probably possessed a bit of garden- 
ground attached to his cottage, and fed his cow, or pig, or flock of 
geese, on the neighbouring common. His ordinary fare was rye- 
bread, barley-meal, onions, carrots, bacon, and beer. Vegetables 
common now, were then rarities. Potatoes, first brought from Ame- 
rica by Hawkins, Drake, and Raleigh, sold at two shillings a pound. 
Articles of clothing, candles, salt, sugar, and wheaten bread, were 
all much dearer than they now are, though meat and beer were much 
cheaper. The wages of artificers and those engaged in manu- 
factures were also fixed by the justices of the peace ; and gene- 
rally ranged at about one shilling a day. At Kidderminster there 
were few beggars, the common trade of stuff- weaving providing 
work for men, women, and children. 'But none were very 
wealthy, as the wages only served to provide food and raiment.'* 

seers could not find him full employment, they were required to make up 
any deficiency in wages out of rates. In consequence of this system, farmers 
purposely underpaid their labourers, knowing the parish could not refuse re- 
lief, while the labourers themselves were deprived of any motive for self- 
exertion. As the overseers were not appointed by the ratepayers, there was 
no check upon the expenditure, and the poor-rates rose with extraordinary 
rapidity. In 1760, the population was 7.000,000; the rates were £1,250,000. 
In 1834, the population had rather more than doubled, being 14,372,000, the 
poor-rates had increased by more than five times, £6.317,235. In 1834, the 
Reformed Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act. A central 
authority was created — a board of three commissioners, with power to regu- 
late the administration of relief throughout England and "Wales. Parishes 
were united into unions, directed by boards of guardians, of whom the ma- 
jority were elected by the ratepayers. The commissioners put an end to the 
allowance system, only granting outdoor relief to the able-bodied poor in ex- 
ceptional cases. This Act made no alteration in the Law of Settlement. The 
35th George III. had already prohibited the removal from a parish of any 
newcomer, until he should have become actually chargeable (1795). The 9th 
and 10th Victoria prohibits the removal of any person who shall have resided 
five years in a parish without being chargeable. The 11th and 12th Vict, re- 
lieves the parish of the cost of maintaining persons who have so become 
chargeable, and lays it on the common fund of the union. The continuance 
of the Laws of Settlement to the present time is consequent upon the principle, 
that every parish, however poor itself, is bound to relieve its own poor. The 
entire abolition of these is still required, as well as the universal substitution 
of union instead of parochial chargeability ; and, where necessary, an equa- 
lization of the poor-rates over wider areas than a single union presents. — 

NlCHOLLS ON THE POOR LAWS. ChITTY'S STATUTES. 

* Baxter's Life, 33. 



•state.] TRAVELLING. 271 

Some of the master workmen got one shilling and eightpence a 
day. There were no large factories, as little machinery had 
been introduced, but weaving and other manufacturing processes 
were carried on in the poor people's homes by hand labour. 
Though the table of wages of the seventeenth century may not 
compare unfavourably with that of the nineteenth, in other re- 
spects a great improvement has taken place in the material con- 
dition of the working classes. In the seventeenth century the 
ravages of fire, disease, and famine often inflicted a greater 
amount of suffering than a war would now bring upon the 
country. Destructive fires took place periodically in most towns, 
for the houses were all of wood, and there were no appliances at 
hand with which to quench the flames. Whether the town were 
wholly or partially destroyed depended principally upon the direc- 
tion of the wind at the time of the breaking out of the fire. Owing 
to an utter neglect of the laws of health, villages and towns were 
subject to the visitation of frightful plagues and diseases, for which 
no remedies were known. At such times the deaths in London 
would increase by several thousands a week.* Famines were com- 
mon in England then, for the same reasons as they are now in India. 
The badness of the roads prevented ary rapid communication from 
one part of the country to another, so that the people in York- 
shire might be near starving from lack of bread, while those 
in Kent possessed a superfluity of corn. It was customary to 
travel with a coach and four horses, not from ideas of grandeur 
or speed, but because otherwise there was no chance of getting 
through the bogs. Often a coach would be six or eight hours in 
going a distance of twelve miles. An overset was not the 
worst danger e that might befall the traveller. He sometimes 
had to pass through gloomy forests and over far-stretching heaths 
without seeing a single enclosed field for a distance of forty or 
even fifty miles, and under these circumstances, it was a lucky 
chance if he came to his journey's end without being „. , 
stopped by a band of highwaymen and robbed of money men. 
and goods. At the close of the civil war, many Cavaliers, finding 
they had ruined themselves in the service of the king, took to 

* The deaths from plague in London were : — 

11,503 in 1592 35,428 in 1625 12,102 in 1636 

30,583 in 1603 1,317 in 1630 2,876 in 1637 

State Papers, 16C7. 



272 LONDON. [social 

the road, and ended their lives on the gallows. Thus, in ] 656, a 

notable highwayman was secured, the chief of a company which 

had robbed the carrier of York of ,£1500. " And it is reported," 

says the newspaper, " that he and his companions have, in little 

more than a twelvemonth's time, robbed to the value of ,£11,000 ; 

[and have taken] so great sums of money at a time, that, instead of 

telling it, they shared it by the quart pot. >; * 

Charles was the first to establish a post-office, to carry letters 

between London, Edinburgh, Chester, Holyhead, and 
Post-office. * & ' i 

other towns. The charge was twopence a letter on any 

distance under eighty miles. During the war, the post fell into 
disuse, but was re-established on the return of peace. 

London itself was the centre of trade, wealth, and inte'ligence. It 
was, as it still is, a chartered or self -governed town. The city was 
Corporation divided into twenty-six wards. The householders or 
of London. f re emen of every ward elected the members of a 
common council, which formed the legislative body of the corpo- 
ration, making bye-laws and police regulations to be of force within 
the city boundaries. The aldermen were also elected by the house- 
holders, and these with the lord mayor were the principal magis- 
trates. In the Old Bailey they had an independent criminal court 
for the trial of treasons, murders, and felonies, committed within the 
city of London and the County of Middlesex. The independence 
and power of the city have been shown in the previous history. The 
Guildhall was the asylum of the five members of the Parliament. 
"Without the support of the corporation, that is to say, of free- 
men, common council, and city aldermen, the Parliament could 
never have commenced the war with the king ; at a later hour, 
when the corporation went with the Presbyterians for the king, the 
Independent leaders, though backed by a veteran army, were 
greatly weakened by the defection. The city had supplied the 
sinews of war; indeed, from no other town in Englard could 
enough money have been borrowed to pay the troops of the Par- 
liament. Had the king had the city at his back, he need never 
have been bankrupt, and might have checked the marauding- 
habits of his army. It was in fact in London that the richest 
merchants of the kingdom were collected. The nobles them- 
selves had not houses more magnificent, furniture more costly 
and collections of pictures and rarities more valuable. The 
* Cromwelliana. 



STATE.] THE STEEETS. 273 

Thames served as a highway between the city and "Westminster. 
There were numbers of public landing-places, where boatmen 
waited to ferry passengers to any part up and down the river, or 
over to Southwark. Old London Bridge was the one bridge that 
had then been built ; the highway across, passing under gateways 
and flanked by houses, gave it the appearance of a castellated 
street. Some noblemen still lived in the Strand, and had 
gardens attached to their dwellings, sloping down to the river's 
edge, with private landing-places; but the more fashionable quar- 
ter was now further west, about Covent Garden and Drury Lane. 
Though London was then considered of enormous size, on the east it 
hardly extended beyond the Tower; on the west it touched the city 
of Westminster. In the north, around the old Convent or Covent 
Garden, Inigo Jones had lately designed new streets, connecting 
the City with St. Giles', then really a hamlet in-the-Fields. The 
old houses were all of timber, with high-gabled roofs, and stories 
jutting out one above the other. As few could read, not only 
every tavern, but every shop, possessed its signboard, and the 
streets presented a succession of Cross Keys, Three Pigeons, 
Golden Lambs, Ships, and Black Swans. The principal streets 
alone were paved, and these merely with little round jolting 
stones. The dirt was frightful. Into the kennel, or open gutter- 
like sewer, refuse was thrown out of houses and shops, and there 
rotted and reeked until it was carried away by the rain to Fleet 
Ditch and the Thames. Eain, in fact, did yeoman's service, 
though the pipes on the house-roofs first conducted their contents 
to the heads of passers-by. Kites and ravens were kept to act as 
scavengers, and the bonfires lighted on every occasion of rejoicing- 
served a good purpose in occasionally consuming the rubbish. 
The streets, before the great fire, were rather to be called alleys ; 
in some, friends could shake hands across from the projecting 
upper stories. Coaches had been introduced into England from 
Germany about 1580. Some enterprising man, a few years later, 
set up hackney-coaches in London, and in 1634 there were said to 
be 1900 such vehicles ready for hire in the streets. Sedan chairs 
followed. The first was brought by Buckingham from Spain. 
The street mob hooted at the hated favourite, regarding it as a 
'mastering pride' in him to be borne upon men's shoulders ; but 
the convenience of the conveyance overcame prejudice, and, like 
coaches, sedan chairs were soon in common use. 

18 



274 APPRENTICES. [social 

Hyde Park was a fashionable drive, where coach-races were 
sometimes held. Spring Gardens, opening into St. James' Park, 
was a favourite resort of ladies and gentlemen. There was drink- 
in tr going on always under the trees, and quarrels took place two 
or three times a week. Cromwell, much to the discontent of 
Royalists, caused both gardens and park to be closed for some 
.months.* Before the breaking out of the Civil War, St. Paul's 
Cathedral had been lised as a daily lounging and meeting-place 
by people of every rank and profession. Its uses were, perhaps, 
less worldly when it became the stable of the sectarian horse during 
the war. The streets were always a Babel of sounds. Masters or 
their apprentices stood at the shop doors, touting for customers 
with cries of 'What d'ye lack, sir — what d'ye please to lackl' 
Pish- wives, orange-women, broom-men, chimney-sweepers, with 
the original costard-applemongers, passed up and down, crying 
their wares or services. Over this motley crowd hung the warn- 
ing gallows, occupying a prominent position outside the Old 
Bailey on Ludgate Hill. Felons and others were hung there every 
Monday morning. Riots and scuffles often took place. We 
have seen how ready the populace of London was to rise, and how 
rival parties in Parliament raised mobs to intimidate their oppo- 
nents. On all such occasions the apprentices took a leading part. 
There was a strong class feeling and close union amongst them. 
The apprentice was bound to his master for seven years, after 
which he might set up in business for himself, and rise if he could 
to be a member of the Common Council, a City Alderman, and 
even sworn Lord Mayor of London. If an apprentice were 
assaulted, he raised the cry of "Prentices, clubs!' and out of every 
shop in the street rushed friends to the rescue. The students of 
the Inns of Court, mostly gentlemen by birth and Royalist at 
heart, felt themselves natural enemies of Presbyterian shop- 
keepers, and a standing feud produced frequent fights between 
Templars and apprentices. Like the athletic sports of the time — 
boating, bowling, shooting, football, cudgelling — the London street 
fights helped to form the raw material of a soldiery. Formerly 
the London train-bands had been famous for their archers. The 
Artillery Company had been originally formed in 1585 by volun- 
teer citizens and officers, when the country was threatened with 
invasion ; and from this small beginning had developed the new 

Evelvn, Diary ; Kn ; gat ; i. 191; Character of England, Somers Tracts, vii. 



state.] THIEVES AND WATCHMEN. 275 

•set of train-bands raised upon the breaking out of the Civil 
War. These, however, were not used as police, and the 
citizen of London had to trust in the strength of his own 
arm to defend his property and life from the assaults of thieves 
and robbers. There were no street lamps, though, indeed, an 
order existed for every householder to hang out a lanthorn 
over his door at night ; and at stated times bellmen walked 
the streets, ringing their bells, and crying, ' Hang out your lant- 
horns !' The order, however, seems to have been but little 
observed, so that the city remained practically unlighted. Stand- 
ing watchmen, who remained at their posts only till one or 
two o'clock in the morning, formed but an inefficient police, and, 
when it grew dark, even the chief streets grew dangerous for all 
but the well-armed. London was, indeed, the head-quarters of 
thieves and rogues of all descriptions, and the exercise of their 
profession required but little ingenuity or caution. The country 
gentleman was known to them at once by his manners, his accent, 
and the cut of his clothes. While he, a stranger in the great city, 
was gazing upon the new sights round him, thieves cut the string 
of his purse, which he wore, as was the custom, attached to his 
girdle. Sharpers prevailed upon him to enter taverns in their 
company, where his pockets were soon emptied of his cash. 
In the intervals of business, all rogues could find an asylum in 
Whitefriars, which took its name from a house of white-hooded 
friars ; before the Eeformation it had been a sanctuary for 
criminals, and still remained one for debtors. Accordingly, not 
only bankrupts and debtors, but highwaymen, false witnesses, 
robbers, and murderers herded together in Whitefriars and other 
congenial haunts, where the officers of justice dared not enter 
unattended by a guard of musketeers * 

A very slight comparison of the England of to-day with the 
England of the seventeenth century is sufficient to show what a 
vast advance has been made in the material condition of the 
country. Yet, because an efficient police system now renders 
roads and streets nearly as safe by night as by clay ; because the 
population has more than quadrupled ; because towns have sprung 
up where once were villages ; because trade has increased to an 

* In 1697 an Act of Parliament was passed, abolishing the privileges of 
Whitefriars and of the Savoy, another haunt of the same kind. See Macau- 
lay, chap. xxii. ig _ 2 



276 SOCIAL STATE OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

extent far beyond the vision of the statesmen of the Long Parlia- 
ment ; because science has done much to prolong life and alleviate 
suffering — it would be a great mistake to suppose that, because of 
these things merely, future generations will regard the nineteenth 
century as superior to those before it. The men of the time of 
James I. and Charles I. are not now allowed any special credit, 
because in travelling they used coaches instead of riding on horse- 
back ; because they built better houses than their great-grand- 
fathers, and slept on softer beds ; because they had more wealth, 
more knowledge, and more refinement ; all this was the result of 
work done before they were born. Material well-being must, in 
the first instance, spring from certain qualities of mind, and the 
people who, while they have inherited the well-being, have lost 
the qualities of mind which enabled their ancestors to bequeath it 
them, are far less likely to be at the highest than at the lowest 
stage of their career. The claim of any age to the respect and 
gratitude of posterity rests on the manner in which it dealt with 
its own special problems. Judged by this test, the patriots of the 
seventeenth century can never be found wanting. It has taken a 
course of two hundred years but to polish off the work that they 
rough-hewed. The material advantages now enjoyed spring in great 
part from the principles then so boldly maintained. Science can- 
not flourish in a land where men are imprisoned for speaking and 
writing what they believe ; trade cannot flourish amid the shackles 
of monopolies and restrictive laws ; abuses will rarely be reformed, 
or bad laws abolished, where the light of free discussion never 
j^enetrates. On the other hand, the mistakes of their age may be 
warnings for other generations : to take a single instance, the 
history of the witchcraft laws shows that education is vital to 
the morality of a state, and that the association of false theories 
with cherished beliefs is a means by which cruel and heartless 
oppression may win the support of religion and piety. The 
problems of the present century are distinct from those of the 
seventeenth, but, perhaps, no less important. Two or three 
hundred years hence it may be possible to form a fair judgment 
of the manner in which those problems have been treated. It 
may well be doubted whether future generations will allow that 
they owe us as great a debt of gratitude as we and they owe the 
men whose judgment, fortitude, and self-sacrifice alone prevented 
the establishment, of arbitrary government in England. 



CHAPTER XII. 

TRIUMPHS OF THE COMMONWEALTH BY LAND AND SEA. — 
(1649—1652.) 

True dispatch is a rich thing; for time is the measure of business, as 
money is of' wares. — Bacon. 

The Commons now formally abolished the House of Lords (19th 
March), and settled the government as a ' commonwealth or free 
state' (19th May, 1649). A Republican government is more or 
less democratical according to the number of those that are privi- 
leged to take part in it, either directly as rulers, or indirectly as 
electors. The government now established under the name of a 
republic was, in fact, a close oligarchy, and not so popular in con- 
stitution as the monarchy which it had overthrown. The body 
that exercised both the legislative and executive functions num- 
bered about 120, and of these there were rarely more than fifty 
present at a debate. Though these members had been elected 
moi-e than eight years ago, and represented but a small fraction 
of the nation, they had the power of refusing all share in the 
government to any but their own partisans, while they could 
not themselves be legally removed without their own consent. 
Yet, if the Republican ideal was to be carried into act, it had 
to be done by this remnant of a Parliament. The dissolu- 
tion of the House involved too great a risk. If all the electors 
were allowed to take part in choosing a new representative, the 
majority of members would be Presbyterians and Royalists ; if, on 
the other hand, Presbyterian and Royalist electors were dis- 
franchised, the army officers would get an assembly which only 
represented themselves. Under these circumstances, both the 
honest men in the House and the self-interested were agreed in 
wishing to avoid a dissolution — the former, such as Vane, Mar- 
tin, Ludlow, Hutchinson, and Bradshaw, because they thought 
that, in founding a republic, they were rendering their country 



278 THE EEPUBLIC— ITS ENEMIES. [rump pari* 

an incalculable benefit; the latter, either through desire of power 
in the future, or fear of consequences for the past. " We slipped 
into circumstances by degrees," says the lawyer Whitelock, one of 
these followers with the stream, "by little and little plunging 
further in, until we knew not how to get out again."* To carry 
on the executive for the present a council of state was appointed, 
containing forty-one of the most influential men in the army and 
the House. 

The Commonwealth had so many enemies that, but for the sup- 
port of Cromwell and the army, it could not have stood for a day. 
At home it was threatened with danger alike from the country 
people and the Levellers : abroad it was threatened from Scot- 
land, where the Prince of Wales had been proclaimed king of the 
three countries (Feb. 12th) ; from Ireland, where Ormond was 
still supreme ; from the Channel, which Rupert held with the re- 
volted ships ; and from Europe at large, whose princes refused to 
recognize the rule of Republican rebels. The Emperor of Russia 
drove English merchants out of his dominions. The foreign re- 
presentatives of the Commonwealth were assassinated. Dr. Doris- 
laus, the agent of the Republic to the States of Holland, was 
murdered by six Scotch followers of Montrose the very evening 
of his arrival at the Hague (May 3rd). A like fate befell Ascham, 
the agent of the Commonwealth to Spain. Two days after his 
arrival at Madrid, six men entered his chamber while he was at 
dinner, and, taking off their hats, saluted the company with the 
words, " Welcome, gallants, welcome !" Ascham rose, thinking 
them to be friends, and in another moment lay dead on the floor 
along with one of his companions. Out of the six criminals the 
Spanish government brought but one to justice. These disgrace- 
ful murders of "the things called ambassadors" were open sub- 
jects of rejoicing with Royalist exiles. 

The Commonwealth, while thus attacked by its open enemies 
abroad, found no support among the masses at home. The im- 
mediate result of Charles' execution was to produce a revulsion 
of feeling in his favour. His faults were buried in his grave ; 
his private virtues lived after him. A book was published, 
entitled Eikon Basilike, or the Royal Image, which professed 
to be written by Charles himself during his captivity at 
Carisbrooke Castle. In it the theory of Divine Right was pic- 
tured in its softest colours. Without abating one jot or tittle of 
* Whitelock, Mem. 417. 



164-9.] 



EIKON BASILIKE. 279 

the king's high pretensions as ruling by the will of God, Charle* 
was portrayed as the father of his people, the lover ot the 
established laws and of Parliaments, yielding in all points to the 
desires of his subjects, save where conscience and honour forbade. 
Against such a prince the people had taken up arms, mislea by a 
few bold, bad men acting from love of power, blind party passions 
and greed to satisfy their own necessities out of the lands and 
revenues of the Church. By these men the king's acts had been 
misrepresented, his good faith unreasonably questioned, but he 
remained frank and generously forgiving as ever In his instruc- 
tions to his son he is represented as bidding him entertain no 
dislike of Parliaments, but remember that the rebels had acted 
from misapprehension of their own good. In the prayers with 
which each chapter of the book closes, he is found beseeching 
God to bestow upon his enemies repentance and pardon, in place 
of punishment for the sin of fighting against Gods anointed. 
For himself, let what would happen, he could still patiently sub- 
mit to God's chastening hand, in the full assurance that Ins 
Saviour's crown of thorns was more precious than any crown 
of -old. Though in fact a forgery of Doctor Gauclen, the book 
Educed as great an effect as if it had proceeded tao . Chare, 
own hand. 48,000 copies of this Image of the Martyr-King 
were sold in a year.* 

To increase the reaction in the king's favour, famine ap- 
peared in many parts of the country. The present Common- 
wealth and the !ate government of the two Houses were associated 
in the mind of the people with a standing army and heavy taxes T 
Charles' rule with the happy memories of unbroken peace, tales 
of distress often came before the House-of a town reduced 
almost to penury, because the commander of the garrison left un- 
p™vided by the government, was forced to allow the soldiers to 
Uve at free quarters ; of tumults against the tax-gatherer^ m 
wMch the string people declared " that they wouh Heave tte* 
Wives and children to be maintained by the gentry, for the biead 
was eaten out of their mouths by the taxes.''! 

From all this discontent the Republicans had little to feai, so 
Ion- as the army remained faithful. Discontent, however, was 
widespread there. A successful revolution, however much it 

; ?JBfc EiSt - 'V ^et^l! «, «3 ; Carlyle, i. 345. 



280 MUTINY OF LEVELLEES. [hump pari., 

offends moderates, must disappoint extremes. Fifth Monarchists, 
Levellers, Anabaptists, found that neither the equality of men nor 
the millennium had come with the Republic. Petitions came that 
the House should dissolve in August ; that new parliaments should 
be held every year; that excise and customs should be abolished; 
that the law and the church should be reformed ; and, lastly, that 
none should pay rent or homage to fellow-creatures. Aroused by 
hunger or belief in natural right, bands of men began to dig and 
plant unenclosed lands. Pamphlets and papers were published 
supporting the principles of the Levellers. " The gentry," it was 
said, " held all authority and command, and drove on designs for 
their own interest and the people's slavery. The nobles, who had 
come in with William the Conqueror, had seized the lands of the 
people and forced the king to consent to laws necessary to preserve 
themselves, but had never acted from any love to the poor Com- 
mons." The impracticable Liiburne, the leader and mouthpiece 
of all the discontented, published tract after tract to stir up the 
soldiers to mutiny by attacking the ambition of the officers and 
the tyranny of the House. "The officers," he wrote, "are inferior 
to the essential part of the army, the soldiery, and ought to be 
controlled and overthrown when they try to overthrow and con- 
trol the soldiery. We were before ruled by a King, Lords, and 
Commons ; now by a General, a Court-Martial, and a House of 
Commons. We are but under an old cheat, the transmutation of 
names, but with the addition of new tyrannies to the old ; and 
the last state of this Commonwealth is worse than the first." 

The moment was critical. Prince Charles was invited to Ire- 
land, and, should he land the Irish army in England in the midst 
of all this surging discontent, Presbyterians and Royalists might 
rise and defeat an army and party divided against itself. To meet 
the danger at its source, the Council of State appointed Cromwell 
commander-in-chief, with orders to make an expedition against 
Ireland. The soldiers, however, now refused to obey the orders 
of their officers, and broke out into open mutiny. In Oxfordshire, 
in Gloucestershire, in Wiltshire, bodies of men marched off from 
their head -quarters in arms. Fairfax, however, and his officers 
followed closely on the insurgents, who w r ithin a fortnight were 
all either taken prisoners or defeated and dispersed. The last 
body of mutineers had marched north from Salisbury, forded the 
Thames, and reached Burford, in Oxfordshire. Fairfax was at 



1649.] STORMING OF DROGHEDA. 281 

Andover, but, by a march of fifty miles in the day, he surprised 
them the same evening in their quarters. The larger part of the 
army had, in fact, remained faithful to their generals, who could 
be tender, without being weak, stern, without being cruel, so 
that their soldiers loved and respected them accordingly. " Those," 
said Cromwell, " that thought martial law a burden should have 
liberty to lay down their arms, and be paid their arrears the same 
as those that stayed ; for the rest, the Parliament would in time 
do all that they desired." Of the Burford mutineers, out of 400 
prisoners, every tenth man was condemned by court-martial to be 
shot. The sentence was only executed upon three ; the others 
felt grateful for the mercy extended to them : Cromwell's words 
brought them to their reason ; the men repented, and their 
leader confessed that many of his party "were so enraged 
against the Parliament that he did think (in his conscience) there 
would have been great cruelty exercised by these men, and that 
it was a happy hour they were surprised and prevented." 

Meantime the Duke of Ormond had effected a peace with the 
Catholics in Ireland by promising them, in the name of Charles 
Stuart, the free exercise of their religion (Jan., 1649). He had 
further succeeded in uniting in the Prmce's favour all four parties 
in the island — the Irish Catholics ; the Catholic descendants of 
the old English settlers ; English Episcopalians, whether fugitive 
Royalists or men whose fathers had been planted by Elizabeth 
and James on the lands of Irish rebels ; and, lastly, the Scotch 
Presbyterians of the Ulster settlement. Accordingly, when Crom- 
well arrived in Ireland at the head of 12,000 men, he found almost 
the whole country under the power of the Royalists (Aug. 15th). 
A Parliamentary garrison in Dublin itself had only escaped a 
siege by surprising the enemy on the banks of the Liffey (Aug. 
2nd). The general first marched against Drogheda, then called 
Droghdagh or Tredah, and summoned the garrison to surrender. 
Sir Arthur Ashton, the governor, refused ; he had 3000 of the 
choicest troops of the confederates and enough provisions to en- 
able him to hold out till winter should compel the enemy to raise 
the siege. But within twenty-four hours the English batteries 
had made a breach in the wall. Oliver, after twice seeing his 
soldiers beaten off, led the in on in person and carried the breach. 
A terrible massacre followed. " Being in the heat of action I 
forbade them," Cromwell wrote in his despatch to the Parlia- 



282 STORMING OF DEOGHEDA. [rump pari* 

merit, " to spare any that were in arms in the town ; and I think 
that night they put to the sword about 2000 men." Of these, 
one-half probably fell in the streets ; the other half Cromwell 
describes as having been slain at early dawn in St. Peter's 
Church. This he looks upon as a judgment for their previous 
proceedings there. "It is remarkable/' he writes, "that these 
people at first set up the mass in some places of the town that had 
been monasteries ; but afterwards grew so insolent that, the last 
Lord's day before the storm, the Protestants were thrust out of 
the great church called St. Peter's, and they had public mass 
there ; and in this very place near 1000 of them were put to the 
sword, fleeing thither for safety. I believe all the friars were 
knocked on the head promiscuously but two." Of the original 
garrison of 3000, many must have fallen in the defence ; and of 
the remainder who escaped for that night, the officers were 
' knocked on the head,' and the soldiers mostly shipped for Bar- 
badoes. "I am persuaded," he further writes, "that this is a 
righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who 
have imbrued their hands in so much innocent blood ; and that it 
will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the future, which are 
the satisfactory grounds to such actions, which otherwise cannot 
but work remorse and regret. The officers and soldiers of this 
garrison were the flower of their army. . . . That which caused 
your men to storm so courageously, it was the Spirit of God, who 
gave your men courage, and took it away again ; and gave the 
enemy courage, and took it away again ; and gave your men 
courage again, and therewith this happy success. And, therefore, 
it is good that God alone have all the glory." 

Royalist accounts assert that many hundreds of women and 
children were slain in St. Peter's Church. It is, of course, pos- 
sible that some of the townspeople, fleeing thither for safety, lost 
their lives in the general massacre of the garrison. There is, how- 
ever, no trustworthy witness* for any lives being taken except 

* Dr. Lingard gives credit to the story of Cromwell's massacre of towns- 
people — men, women, and children — but the only direct testimony is a story 
told by Thomas Wood (the brother of Anthony Wood, the historiographer of 
Oxford). This Thomas Wood had fought on the king's side, and alter the 
king's death, "being deeply engaged in a Cavaliering plot in 1648, he, to 
avoid being taken and hanged, fled to Ireland," where, according to his 
brother's account, he got a command in the regiment of Ingoldsby, an old 
schoolfellow, and then a Parliamentary officer ; and thus, having changed* 
eides, " was engaged in the storming and assaulting" of Drogheda. He tells 



1649.] IRISH CAMPAIGN. 283 

those of soldiers and friars. Cromwell did not sanction the killing 
of any but those with arms in their hands, though he seems to have 
approved of the fate of the friars. The fanatical zeal of his letter, 
and the fact that he takes the full credit or discredit for the slaugh- 
ter of the garrison, makes it improbable that he concealed anything ; 
and this is substantiated by his subsequent declaration, in which 
he gives this challenge : — " Give us an instance of one man, since 
my coming into Ireland, not in arms, massacred, destroyed, or 
banished, concerning the massacre or the destruction of whom 
justice hath not been done, or endeavoured to be done." 

With the enemy's troops Cromwell carried out the determined 
mode of warfare which he began at Drogheda. They were mostly 
scattered over the country, occupied in garrison duty. Before 
whatever town he came he demanded immediate surrender, or 
threatened to refuse quarter. Town after town opened its gates 
to this grim summons. Wexford, which refused to surrender, was 
stormed, and the whole garrison, 2000 in number, put to the 
sword (Oct. 11th). 

While condemning these massacres we must remember, not only 
that there had been a terrible massacre of Protestants eight years 
before,* but that the Celts, whether Irish or Highlanders, failed 
themselves to observe towards others the rules of war obtaining 
among more civilized nations ; and further that, even according 
to the rules of war of that time, the garrisons of places taken by 
storm were presumed to have lost their right to quarter ; the Ca- 
tholic generals on the Continent had, in fact, put to the sword, not 
only the garrisons, but the inhabitants of Protestant towns. Yet 
Cromwell was probably not so much influenced by precedents 
of his own day as by those drawn from "the wars of the Lord" 

a tale, in Spenser's manner, of a "most handsome virgin, arrayed in costly 
and gorgeous apparel," whom a soldier treated as though he were Phineas 
and she a Midianitish woman; whereupon Wood, "seeing her gasping, took 
away her money, jewels, &c., and flung her clean over the works." His 
hrother says " he had an art of merriment called buffooning," and he seems 
to have practised this on "his mother and brethren," to whom he often told 
this story. Ormond, writing from the neighbourhood, and speaking gene- 
rally of great cruelty having been exercised for five days after the town was 
taken, makes no mention of a massacre of townspeople. The Catholic 
Council of Kilkenny, in the manifesto they published at Clonmacnoise at 
this time, make no mention of a massacre of townspeople at Drogheda, and 
even think it necessary to warn the Irish against being deceived by a show 
of clemency. It is ir his answer to this manifesto that Cromwell makes the 
statement quoted in the text. Ormond Papers, ii. 412 ; Lingard, viii. 
Appendix. * See p. 101. 



284 DEDUCTION OF IRELAND. [rump pari.. 

in his Bible. It is not the only time that religion has been made 
to seem at war with humanity through the mistaken idea, that 
usages tolerated among uncivilized nations 3000 years ago are a 
model for the observance of Christians. The history of the 
Indian mutiny, in our own time, shows that the danger of an 
uncritical interpretation of the sacred records is not past for us. 
It was only in the case of these two garrisons that Cromwell 
was merciless, but this blot on his character increased his diffi- 
culties in the next Scottish campaign by inspiring groundless 
fears in the civil population. 

In other respects, while Cromwell's rigour and determination 
saved bloodshed in the end by the rapidity and completeness of 
his conquests, his conduct in Ireland contrasted favourably on many 
points with that of the Royalists there. His own soldiers, for ill- 
using the people contrary to regulations, were sometimes cashiered 
the army, sometimes hanged. When a treaty was made, he kept 
faithfully to its terms. Garrisons that yielded on summons were 
allowed either to march away with arms and baggage, or else to 
go abroad and enter the service of any government at peace with 
England. Before the war was over he had rid the country, on 
these terms, of some 45,000 soldiers. Taking advantage of the 
divisions of his enemies, he persuaded several garrisons of English 
soldiers to desert the cause of Charles Stuart for the Common- 
wealth. His conduct of the war was so successful that, during 
the nine months of his stay in Ireland, the forces of the Royalists 
were shattered, and the provinces of Leinster and Munster reco- 
vered for the Parliament. Cromwell returned to England in May 
1650, leaving his son-in-law Ireton to complete the conquest of 
the country. The last garrisons in Ulster and Munster surren- 
dered during the course of the ensuing summer and autumn. 
Ireton crosse 1 the Shannon and drove the Irish back into the 
bogs and mountain fastnesses of Connaught, their last refuge, 
where fighting still continued for two years after all the rest of 
the country had been reduced (1651-2). 

Cromwell had hastened from Ireland because a pressing danger 
now threatened England from Scotland. The Scots were divided 
into three parties — first, the Strict Covenanters, followers of 
Argyle, who had been placed in power by Cromwell after the de- 
feat of Hamilton in Lancashire (1648) ; secondly, the Lax Cove- 
nanters, or Engagers, who had taken part in Hamilton's invasion; 



1650.] PARTIES IN SCOTLAND. 285 

thirdly, the old Royalists, headed by the Marquis ot Montrose. 
Though the Strict Covenanters declined to fight for a king who 
refused the Covenant, they grew indignant at seeing Republicans 
and Sectarians triumph over Presbyterians in England ; and, 
having hopes that the son would be less recalcitrant than the 
father, sent deputies to the Hague to offer Charles the crown of 
Scotland, on condition of his taking the Covenant, and promising 
to rule by the advice of Parliament and Kirk. At the time 
this treaty was being negotiated, Montrose was defeated and 
taken prisoner by the Covenanters. Charles, though he had given 
him a full commission, yet, not wishing to break off the treaty, 
basely disowned the earl, and caused word to be sent to Argyle 
that he felt no sorrow for the defeat of the man who had drawn 
the sword " contrary to the royal command." The outrages of 
Montrose's savage levies were long remembered in the Lowlands, 
and the Covenanters, in revenge, now determined to execute him 
with all the circumstances of shame they could devise. He was 
sentenced to be hung on a gibbet, thirty feet high, in the Grass- 
market in Edinburgh, the place of execution for the lowest felons, 
his body quartered, and his limbs fixed on the gates of four 
towns in Scotland. Montrose, by the calmness and dignity of his 
bearing, cast back the scorn and the ohame into the faces of his 
enemies. He had always loved to play the hero, and never had 
such a scene been offered him before. He walked calmly to the 
place of execution with a "grand air," magnificently dressed, as if 
he had been going to wait upon the king. His country honoured 
him in his death more than in his life (May 21st). 

The Republican statesmen were aware that, if Charles Stuart 
reigned in Scotland, English and Scotch Presbyterians would 
unite in an attempt to place him upon the throne of England. 
They determined, therefore, to ward off the danger by being the 
first in the field. Fairfax, however, refused to command. The 
Republicans knew that the only man able to take his place was 
Cromwell. Cromwell's power they feared already, but it was in 
vain they begged and implored Fairfax to go ; in vain Cromwell 
himself entreated him, which he did so earnestly that none could 
doubt his sincerity ; in vain it was urged upon him that the Scots 
had already broken the Covenant by one invasion under Hamil- 
ton, and were now, without doubt, intending a second. Fairfax, 
however, refusing to march against the Scots unless they first 



286 SCOTCH CAMPAIGN. [bump parl. 

actually entered England, resigned his command to the Commons, 
who appointed Cromwell commander-in-chief of the whole army 
in his stead (June 26th). 

When Cromwell, at the head of 16,000 men, crossed the border 
(July 22nd), he found silence and desolation around him. The 
country people, frightened at horrible tales spread about of cruel- 
ties practised by the Sectarian soldiers, had obeyed the orders of 
the Scotch Parliament and fled for refuge to the towns, leaving 
behind them only a few women, who baked and brewed for the 
invaders. When Cromwell arrived at Musselburgh he found the 
Scotch army of 24,000 men occupying a long line of entrench- 
ments, running from Leith to the hills called Salisbury Crags 
and Arthur's Seat, which lie to the east of Edinburgh Old 
Town. David Leslie, the Scotch general, had taken up this un- 



& ^V,lCHj 



up 



assailable position with the intention of starving the English out 
of the country. His own army was amply supplied with provi- 
sions from all the north of Scotland lying at his back ; while, 
the eastern Lowlands having been purposely laid waste, his 
enemies were entirely dependent for their supplies upon a fleet 
which had followed them from England. 

Cromwell marched and countermarched, in hopes of drawing 
Leslie out of his fastness and bringing on a general engagement. 
But his efforts were in vain. As autumn approached the difficul- 
ties of the situation increased. The weather was wet and stormy, 
the soldiers fell sick, and the ocean was so rough that provisions 
were landed with difficulty. A council of war agreed to retreat 
to Dunbar, a town on the sea-coast, lying between Edinburgh and 
Berwick, which might, at the worst, be fortified, and afford some 
quarters for the winter (Aug. 31st). Accordingly the "poor, 
shattered, hungry, discouraged army" first shipped 500 sick men 
for Berwick, and then marched from Musselburgh through Had- 
dingtonshire to Dunbar (Aug. 31st). Leslie, who mistakenly 
supposed that his enemies had put on board their great guns and 
a large number of troops, followed closely in pursuit, with the in- 
tention of putting himself between them and their communica- 
tions with England. Having succeeded in passing them, he 
thus made it impossible for them to continue their retreat with- 
out cutting their way through his army, which now faced about 
to front them. They were cooped up between Belhaven Bay 
and the mouth of the Broxburn, on a strip of coast not above 



Sed Sept., 1650.] DUNBAR FIELD. 287 

two miles long. Behind there was no shelter but the little fish- 

ino- town of Dunbar. Immediately in front of this, "barely a 

mUe off, was Doon Hill, rising like a hog's back to a height of 

more than 500 feet, and forming the northern extremity ol the 

dreary and boggy Lammermoor range. Upon the long level 

summit of this hill was stationed the Scots' army, commanding 

from its vantage ground the surrounding lowland country, and 

ready to seize any opportune moment to descend and annihilate 

the smaller force beneath it. In order the more completely to 

close the road to Berwick, Leslie's right wing of horse descended 

and occupied the undulating but comparatively level ground 

spreading between the foot of Doon Hill and the sea-coast. 

South of Doon Hill, the Lammermoors gradually approach closer 

and closer to the sea, until, at Copperspath, some eight or nine 

miles south of Dunbar, the road to Berwick runs through a 

narrow pass, "where ten men to hinder are better than forty to 

make their way," which was itself already held by the enemy. 

To return westwards to Musselburgh was worse than useless. 
An attempt to escape in their ships was full of danger, as they 
would be open to attack from the Scots in their rear while em- 
barking. To advance was destruction, as long as Leslie com- 
manded the road to Berwick. To fight was impossible, so long 
as he remained upon the top of Doon Hill. Oliver prepared for 
the worst, but did not despair. He wrote to Hasleng, then 
o-overnor of Newcastle, telling him to collect what forces he could, 
for the army was so blocked up he could not get out without 
"almost a miracle," and his soldiers were falling sick beyond 
imagination." Neither did Oliver's men despair, to judge from 
the °spmt of a musketeer with a wooden arm, who was taken 
prisoner in a skirmish. When asked by Leslie « if the army in- 
tended to fight," he replied, "What else do you think we came 
here for V « Soldier, how will you fight when you have shipped 
half your men and all your great guns?" « Sir, if ywi . please to 
draw down your men to the foot of the hill, you will find both 
men and great guns also." Leslie sent him back again free 

The Broxburn is a small stream which divides the foot of Doon 
Hill from the base of the little promontory upon which stands 
Dunbar It flows in a glen with steep grassy banks between 
forty and fifty feet high, and as many apart. The easiest passage 
across is at a point about a mile from the sea-coast, near the 



3*d Sew., 1650.1 BATTLE OF DTTNBAlt. 289 

Duke of Roxburgh's seat, Broxmouth House, where the sides of 
the glen slope gently down to the water, and the high road to 
Berwick now crosses by a bridge. Oliver, about four o'clock on 
Monday afternoon (Sept. 2nd), was walking in the garden of 
Broxmouth House and watching the movements of the enemy 
upon Doon Hill, when he perceived that Leslie was actually 
bringing his whole army down below the steep part of the hill-side, 
strengthening his right wing, opposite the duke's house, with 
two-thirds of the cavalry from his left, and posting his infantry 
in the cornfields which sloped gently down to the Broxburn. 
What did this movement mean 1 Cromwell divined at once. 
Leslie's purpose was to seize the easy passage over the brook 
near Broxmouth House by a surprise, and then bring his forces 
over and light at pleasure. Cromwell saw that, by attacking first, 
he might seize the passage, outflank Leslie's right wing, and drive 
it back upon the main body, and thus rout the whole army while 
hemmed up in that narrow space between the steep of Doon Hill 
and Broxburn glen. He suggested the plan to Lambert, who said 
he had meant to say the same thing, and the action was agreed 
upon for the morrow. 

It was the Presbyterian Committee who had persuaded Leslie 
to abandon his masterly inactivity on the hill-top. They 
thought it a mistake to adopt a policy which would let the Sec- 
tarians surrender, and thus escape utter destruction. Moreover, 
while the English were provided with tents, Leslie's own men 
were absolutely without shelter, exposed to all the furies of wind 
and weather. Leslie himself, as his forces numbered 22,000 
men while those of Cromwell, supposing all the men had been 
in fighting condition, were not above 12,000, had no doubt of the 
event, and gave out in his camp that, by seven o'clock on the 
Tuesday, " they would have the army of the enemy dead or alive." 
A misty morning followed a wet and tempestuous night. By 
four o'clock Cromwell had already set his troops in motion. Large 
bodies of horse and foot were massed opposite the Scots' right 
wincr while, for a mile along the bank of the Broxburn, great 
guns'were stationed, and regiments of foot drawn up, in readiness 
to assault Leslie's main battle, now lying in the stubble of the 
reaped cornfields opposite. At six o'clock the trumpets sounded, 
the cannon fired all up the line, and the soldiers charged, shouting 
their word of battle, "The Lord of hosts-the Lord of hosts! 

19 



290 BATTLE OF DUNBAR, [eump tajil. 

The Scots' foot were hardly well awake, and had let their matches, 
then ropes of tow, nearly all out, so that they could not so much 
as return the fire that assailed them from the opposite side of the 
o-len. Only at the passage, where the road to Berwick then went 
through the Broxburn, was the struggle fierce. For here the 
Scotch horse, themselves preparing f<5r ,a surprise, returned the 
charge with spirit, and forced their enemies back over brook and 
hollow. Few, however, were their moments of triumph. Crom- 
well's own regiment of foot, coming up to battle, drove them back 
in turn at push of pike ; two foot regiments, which had crossed 
the glen below Broxmouth House, took their wing in flank ; the 
English horse, charging a second time, broke through horse and 
foot. Leslie's whole wing then turned and fled right back upon 
his own main battle, disordering the whole line, and trampling 
their friends to death beneath their horses' feet. For nearly an 
hour the whole scene was enveloped in mist ; when at last the 
fog broke and the sun shone out upon the sea. Oliver shouted 
aloud the battle cry of Israel, "Now let God arise and scatter 
His enemies !" and, as the fog was more and more dispersed, and 
the battle-field more clearly revealed, he cried again, " I profess 
they run!" and there "was the Scots' army all in confusion and 
running, both right wing and left and main battle." In all direc- 
tions they fled — some back towards Copperspath, some in mad panic 
northwards across the Broxburn to Dunbar itself, but the mass of 
the fugitives, horse and foot, along the skirts of Doon Hill west- 
wards towards Haddington. Thus within one short hour the situ- 
ation of the two armies was more than reversed. The English 
were victorious; destruction surrounded the Scotch. Before joining 
the chase, the general and those about him halted and sang Psalm 
cxvii. : — "O praise the Lord, all ye nations; praise him, all ye 
people. For His merciful kindness is great towards us, and the 
truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord." 
Such was the battle, or rather the rout of Dunbar. Upon the 
place, or near about it, 3000 men were killed or trampled to 
death; the chase was pursued for nearly eight miles; 10,000 pri- 
soners were taken ; the whole of the Scottish baggage and artillery 
fell into the hands of the conquerors (Sept. 3rd, 1650). Cromwell 
in his turn advanced ; the town of Edinburgh opened its gates, 
and he laid siege to the castle. 

Alter the defeat of the army of Strict Covenanters at Dunbar, 



1651.] CHAELES INVADES ENGLAND. 291 

the middle party obtained greater influence in the State. The 
members of this party were called Engagers, from their having 
entered into that ' Engagement ' to free the king, which led to 
Hamilton's invasion in 1648. The Parliament met at Perth, and 
voted that not only Engagers, but Royalists, who submitted to 
public penance, should be allowed to serve in the army. Charles 
himself was crowned king at Scone (Jan. 1st), and made com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, which by the spring was again 
raised to a force of 20,000 men. Many Covenanters, however, 
could not hide from themselves the truth of reproaches cast upon 
them by Cromwell, that Charles hated the Covenant and sacri- 
ficed his conscience for love of a crown. The officers of a new 
army, raised during the autumn in the western Lowland counties, 
had presented a remonstrance, refused to fight for the king, and 
finally joined the invaders. The governor of Edinburgh Castle 
had shared the views of the remonstrants, and opened its gates to 
Cromwell (Dec. 19th, 1650). 

Leslie and Charles, adopting the strategy of the former year, 
took up a strong position near Stirling, where they could not 
readily be attacked. Cromwell determined to starve them out. 
He crossed his army over the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, dis- 
persed the force sent to oppose his landing, and thus gained pos- 
session of Fife, and shut Charles off from all the north of 
Scotland. Perth, the seat of the Scottish government, itself 
surrendered. Charles, finding his supplies cut off, and the road 
to England open, played the desperate game which Cromwell 
seems almost to have designed for him. Suddenly breaking up 
his camp (July 31st), and getting three days' start of the 
enemy, he marched straight into England, becoming in his 
turn the invader. He bent his course towards Gloucester- 
shire, hoping that the people in the west would rise in his favour, 
and increase the size of his army before he turned upon London. 
But his friends were unprepared. Only a few partial risings took 
place, and, when the royal standard was raised at Worcester, his 
army barely numbered 16,000 men (Aug. 22nd). The Republi- 
cans despatched the militia, and every force that could be raised, 
to check his progress. Cromwell himself, having left 5000 men 
under General Monk, to complete the con quest of Scotland, fol- 
lowed fast in pursuit, and having effected a junction with the other 

19—2 



292 BATTLE OF WORCESTEK. [rump pari,. 

Republican forces, found himself by the time he reached "Wor- 
cester, in command of a force of 30,000 men (Aug. 28th). 

The city of "Worcester, which stands on the eastern bank of the 
Severn, was then, as now, connected by a bridge with its western 
suburb of St. John's. The surrounding country, on either side of 
the Severn, was cultivated, and the numerous fields, lanes, and 
ditches rendered it all unsuited for cavalry fighting. "West of the 
Severn a fruitful plain stretches away uninterruptedly as far as 
the Malvern Hills ; but on the eastern side of the river the 
country is broken, and, at the distance of about a mile from the 
city, Red Hill, crowned by the Perry Woods, bounds the view. 
Around and within city and suburb Charles entrenched his army. 
On a small but abruptly rising eminence, which looks down on 
"Worcester from the south-east, the Scots planted guns and raised 
an entrenchment, which they called Tort Royal. A bridge 
at Upton, some miles below "Worcester, was broken down, to 
secure the suburb of St. John's from attack, by preventing the 
enemy from crossing to the Severn's western bank. The work, 
however, was not thoroughly done. Some of Lambert's soldiers 
straddled across a parapet left standing, and, after a fierce struggle, 
drove the Royalists out of Upton, and repaired and maintained the 
bridge. The next day, the 29th of August, Cromwell, advancing 
from Pershore and "Whiteladies Ashton, occupied Red Hill and the 
Perry "Woods with the main body of his army. On the 2nd of 
September, Fleetwood took over the repaired bridge at Upton a 
formidable force of 10,000 men. Several difficulties, however, re- 
mained to be overcome before he could approach St. John's,, 
for the Royalists held the only bridge over the Teme at Powick, 
and had placed a strong detachment of troops in the village before 
it. To ensure a close communication with the other forces, from 
which he was now separated by the Severn, Fleetwood brought 
boats up from Upton and Gloucester, and made a bridge of them 
over the Severn. He then made a second bridge, within pistol- 
shot of the other, over the Teme, to be ready for use in case his 
troops could not force the Powick Bridge. Fleetwood began his 
march from Upton at five o'clock in- the morning, but the 
bridges were not completed until about three in the afternoon. 
A furious assault was then made upon the Royalists' advanced 
guard at Powick, and, after a hard struggle, Fleetwood's soldiers 
succeeded in driving them from their position, and forcing a pas- 



<294 BATTLE OF WOKCESTEB. [eump pari. 

sage over the Terue. This success, however, was but momentary. 
On seeing the confusion of their friends, large bodies of horse 
and foot poured out from St. John's, and, charging furiously, 
forced the Parliamentarians back again upon the Teme. At this 
critical moment Cromwell brought several regiments of horse and 
foot across by the bridge of boats over the Severn. A body of 
Highlanders gallantly but vainly threw themselves in the way of 
their advance. Cromwell "led the van in person, being the first 
man that set foot on the enemy's ground." He effected a junction 
with Fleetwood's forces, and once for all turned the tide of battle 
on this side the river. "We beat the enemy," he says, "from 
hedge to hedge till we beat him into Worcester." 

Charles, with his principal officers, was watching the operations 
from the tower of Worcester Cathedral. On seeing regiment after 
regiment of Parliamentarians stream across the bridge of boats to 
the western side of the Severn, he determined to assail the posi- 
tion of the forces still remaining on Eed Hill. From the number 
of the enclosures which cut up the ground, the action was mainly 
confined to the infantry. The Royalists charged out of Sudbury 
Gate with even more than their usual gallantry, but could not 
succeed in breaking two of Cromwell's foot regiments, who bore 
the brunt of the shock. Before they had found time for a second 
charge, Oliver, with several regiments, had re-crossed the bridge 
of boats. He now charged himself, at the head of his veterans, 
and the fiercest struggle of all came on. The Highlanders, 
when their powder was spent, rather than retreat, fought with 
the butt-ends of their muskets ; the artillery from Fort Royal 
played upon the ranks of the Parliamentarians ; the king led his 
troops on in person again and again. Cromwell saw the position 
of the Royalists was really untenable ; he " did exceedingly 
hazard himself, riding up and down in the midst of the fire; 
riding himself in person to the enemy's foot to offer them 
quarter, whereto they returned no answer but shot." In spite of 
the courage displayed by Charles and his troops, the battle ne- 
cessarily ended in their complete discomfiture. Closely pur- 
sued by Cromwell, they were forced back into the city, where 
the bloody struggle was continued in the streets. About seven 
o'clock Fort Royal itself was stormed, and the guns turned upon 
Worcester. On the south-east side of the city, by Sudbury Gate, 
and on the west side, over Severn Bridge, the Parliamentarians 
pressed in at the same time. Charles, in despair, rode up and 



3ed Sept, 1651.] ESCAPE OF CHARLES. 295 

down the streets, now calling on the foot soldiers, who were throw- 
iug away their arms, to stand again ; now imploring the horse to 
charge once more, crying that he would rather they should shoot 
him than let him outlive that fatal day. But his words were spent 
in vain ; his troops were being pressed back to the north end of the 
town ; the streets were becoming strewn with the dead bodies of 
men and horses ; at last, to avoid falling into the hands of his ene- 
mies, he was obliged to fly hard out of the city's northern gate.* 
Leslie himself was taken prisoner, but while prisoners of note, 
both Scotch and English noblemen, were captured daily, the 
Commonwealth's troops, though they scoured the country up 
and down, failed to light upon the greatest prize of all. Riding 
north from Worcester the night after the battle, Charles, early 
the next morning, reached Whiteladies, a house belonging to 
a Eoyalist gentleman. Here he changed his clothes for a 
peasant's dress ; a coarse linen shirt, a pair of old green 
breeches, a coat of green, his own stockings with their em- 
broidered tops cut off, and a pair of clumsy shoes, formed his 
apparel. His face and hands were dyed brown with walnuts. 
Richard Penderell, one of five brothers, tenants on the 
estate, clipped off the fugitive's long locks, and took him to a 
neighbouring wood for concealment. They had only left White- 
ladies half an hour, when soldiers in pursuit came and searched 
the house. It was wet and cold in the wood, and Penderell sent 
his sister, Joan Yates, to the king with a blanket and a mess of 
milk, butter, and eggs. Charles started when she came. "Good 
woman," he said, " can you be faithful to a distressed Cavalier V 
"Yes, sir," she replied; "I would rather die thau betray you." 
At nightfall Charles left his retreat, hoping to get across the 
Severn and escape into Wales ; but the bridges being all guarded, 
and no boat obtainable, he was obliged to retrace his steps to 
Whiteladies, where he spent a day, in company with a Cavalier, 
Captain Careless, in an oak, the thick foliage of which concealed 
the two fugitives from the sight of passers by. William Penderell 
and his wife gathered sticks near at hand, ready to give warning 
of danger, for occasionally soldiers came along the path near the 
tree, and looked about the surrounding woods and meadows. 

* Cromwelliana ; Carl vie; Boscobel Tracts ; Personal Expenses of Chavlea 
II. in City of Worcester, communicated to the Transactions of the Historical 
Society by E. Woof. 



296 FOREIGN AFFAIRS. [bump pabl. 

After running many risks of discovery, Charles made his way 
through the country to the south coast, and, sailing from Brighton, 
was landed in safety at Fecamp, in Normandy (Oct. 16th). His 
escape spoke much for the good faith and loyalty of the English 
people. He had been a wanderer for forty-four days, and at the 
mercy of forty-five persons at least whose names are known — 
peasants, servants, gentlemen, women, Protestants, Catholics— of 
whom none were prevailed upon to betray him either by fear or 
greed ; and this though the House of Commons had declared all 
his harbourers traitors, and offered a reward of £1000 for his dis- 
covery. 

During the two troubled years in which Cromwell was re- 
ducing Ireland and Scotland, the Council of State had not 
neglected foreign affairs. Milton had been appointed their Sec- 
retary for Foreign Tongues (March 13th, 1649), and with Blake, 
Popham, and Dean for their admirals, they were engaged in 
strengthening the navy and raising England's power by sea. 
Prince Rupert, driven from the Channel and from Ireland, fled 
for refuge to the Tagus. Blake pursued him with eighteen ships 
of war, blocked up the mouth of the river, and inflicted so much 
damage on Portuguese merchants by seizing vessels coming home 
from the Indies, that the King of Portugal gave the prince 
orders to quit the coast (1650). Rupert sailed first to the Medi- 
terranean, but when most of his vessels were destroyed by Blake 
he made with the remaining three for the West Indies, where 
being still pursued, wherever he went, by the Commonwealth's 
fleets, he at last gave over his pirate's calling, and sold his vessels 
to the King of France (March, 1652). His brother Maurice, who 
accompanied him, had been lost in a storm. By the end of the 
year 1652 there was hardly a corner of the British dominions that 
dared any longer openly support the cause of Charles. Guern- 
sey was the last to give in, but Jersey, the Scilly Isles, and the 
colonies planted on the North American coast and in the West 
India Islands had all been visited by the Republican admirals, 
and had consented to recognize the authority of the Common- 
wealth. 

After the victory of Worcester, foreign princes hastened to 
make friends of men w r ho might prove formidable enemies, and 
no longer hesitated to recognize the Republic as the lawful govern- 
ment of England. Tuscany, Venice, Geneva, the Swiss cantons, 



1651.] PORTUGAL— FKANCE. 297 

the Hanseatic towns, German princes, sent and received agents ; 
Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal sent extraordinary ambassadors. 
A Spanish ambassador, as early as December, 1650, received 
audience of the Commons. The aspirations of the Republican 
statesmen, Vane, Bradshaw, Martin, and their companions, rose 
with success. To foreigners they seemed "filled with pride," and 
vast schemes of advancing England's power and commerce were 
believed to float before their minds. ''They intend," writes a 
foreigner, " to destroy the trade of Holland and usurp it to them- 
selves. The Dutch must serve on board their fleet, and all the 
shipwrights, sailmakers, and ropemakers will be obliged to go and 
earn their living in England. Then they will turn their arms 
against Denmark, and will oblige Norway to sell their wood to no 
other nation than England. They will send their fleets against 
Spain and Lisbon to destroy their trade with the East Indies, and 
usurp the trade of all the European nations. All the earth must 
submit to them, work for nobody but them, and they will, from 
time to time, come into their ports and sweep away all their trea- 
sure. All commodities will be worked up in England, so that the 
best artificers will flock thither ; and, if they will have any fine 
linen or good cloth to wear in another country, the flax and wool 
must be sent to be manufactured in England."* 

When the King of Portugal sought a treaty, the Republicans 
demanded a very large sum as indemnity for the expenses Eng- 
land had incurred in fitting out the fleet against Rupert. The 
ambassador, on hesitating to agree to such terms, was peremptorily 
ordered to quit the country (May, 1651). Louis XIV. had 
allowed French vessels to join with those of Rupert in seizing- 
English merchantmen. The Republicans were now in posses- 
sion of the more powerful navy, and retaliated severely on 
the French for their former ill-will. There was no means by 
which Louis could come to more friendly relations but by sending 
an ambassador to England and making a treaty. But, though 
eager for England's support or, at least, neutrality in the war in 
which he was now engaged with Spain, his pride forbade him to 
recognize as lawful rulers the men who had driven his young- 
cousin into exile, and put his uncle to death on the scaffold. The 
French merchants, in despair at the injuries inflicted on their 

* Sorbiere to M. fie Courcelles at Amsterdam, 1st July, 1652, in Harris, 
Life of Cromwell, 270- 



298 



FOREIGN RELATIONS. bump pari. 



commerce, asked permission of the English Parliament to 
send an agent to London to treat privately. " I cannot/'' 
replied the Secretary of the Council of State, " procure for you a 
safe conduct to come in the capacity you propose. But, if the 
Trench Government will consider the wrongs by it committed, 
and will save us the necessity of seeking justice for ourselves, and 
treat with the Eepublic in the forms usual between sovereign 
states, I have no doubt that this State will be willing to entertain 
any honest and just propositions for the settlement of differences"* 
(Dec, 1650). Meantime Louis' delay not only affected the inte- 
rest of merchants, but threatened the success of his own military 
expeditions. Agents from the revolted city of Bordeaux appeared 
in London, soliciting aid of the Eepublicans, and offering in return 
to place England in possession of a port it could secure for 
them on the west coast of France. The English fleet did not 
hesitate to seize some French vessels carrying provisions for the 
relief of Dunkirk, at the time besieged by the Netherlanders. 
The town, in consequence, was forced to surrender (Sept.) ; and, 
when the French government complained of the conduct of the 
English fleet, the Eepublicans replied that the act was merely a 
reprisal for damages inflicted on English merchants by French 
vessels in the Mediterranean. Thus pressed, Louis at last con- 
sented to send an ambassador to England, and formally recognized 
the Eepublican government (Dec.) 

Though the Eepublicans, by the energy of their government, 
caused England to be feared and respected, yet their foreign policy 
was not marked by any true insight into the relations of states at 
the time. France, though a Catholic country, was no deadly 
enemy of Protestantism or of progress ; the governments of Spain 
and Austria were distinguished for their fanatical and reactionary 
spirit. The Eepublicans, however, showed themselves inclined to 
support Spain against France, and now entered into a disastrous 
war with Holland, the enemy of Spain, a Protestant country, and 
their own natural ally. This war was, partly, the result of com- 
mercial jealousy. The aspiring spirit of the Eepublicans caused 
them to make unjust and unreasonable demands as the price of 
their friendship with the sister republic. We have before had 
occasion to notice the commercial rivalries existing between the 

* Guizot, i. 448. 



1652.] HOLLAND. 299 

English and the Dutch, the cruel murders perpetrated in the 
East Indies, and the consequent depression of English trade.* 
The unfriendly feeling thus produced became still more pro- 
nounced after the execution of the king and the establishment 
of the Eepublic. The Dutch were afraid that England, now 
that it had a government like their own, would also turn its atten- 
tion to commerce, and, by the superior size and resources of the 
country, eclipse the smaller luminary at its side. 

On the other hand the Republicans had been so successful in 
founding and maintaining their new form of government, that 
now no designs seemed too bold for accomplishment. At first, try- 
ing fair means to prevent the Dutch from acting as their rivals 
on the sea and the destroyers of their commerce, they had 
sent two extraordinary ambassadors, Strickland and St. John, 
to Holland, offering the renewal of a former treaty of 1495, 
and proposing further that the two countries should unite in a 
kind of confederacy and have the same friends and enemies (Jan., 
1651). The States of Holland, in place of a confederacy, pro- 
posed terms of their own for an alliance. Dutch statesmen fore- 
saw that if England and Holland were confederated together, 
their country being the smaller and less powerful, would prac- 
tically lose its independence, and in its foreign relations be 
forced to act in the interest of England. The negotiations were 
broken off, and the English ambassadors recalled (June, 1651). 
" My lords," said St. John to the States commissioners upon 
taking his leave, " you have your eye upon the issue of the affairs 
of the King of Scotland, and therefore have despised the friend- 
ship we proffered you ; I will assure you that many in the Par- 
liament were of opinion that we ought not to have come hither, 
or to have sent ambassadors till we had first overcome our diffi- 
culties, and seen an ambassador from you. I now see my fault, 
and perceive very well that those members of Parliament judged 
right. You will in a little time see our affairs against the King 
of Scotland despatched, and then you will by your ambassadors 
come and desire what we now so cordially come to proffer. But 
assure yourselves, you will then repent you have rejected our 
kinduess."t 

After the battle of Worcester (3rd Sept., 1651), the victorious 

* See p. 253. f De Witt, Interest of Holland, 393. 



500 FOREIGN RELATIONS. |r™ p *^- 

Republicans passed the Navigation Act, the heading of which 
briefly expressed its contents : " Goods from foreign parts ; by 
•whom to be imported. 1 ' First, with a few exceptions named, 
it forbade any goods to be imported into England from Asia, 
Africa, or America, excepting in English ships, or in ships 
belonging to the English colonies ; secondly, it forbade the pro- 
duce or manufacture of any country in Europe, to be imported 
into England, except in English ships, or in ships of the country 
in which the goods were produced (9th Oct., 1651). The framers of 
this law had two ends in view. The first, to transfer part of the 
carrying trade* of the Dutch to Englishmen ; the second, to 
increase the strength of the English navy. The first end was 
contrary to the principles of free trade. If the Dutch could im- 
port foreign goods into England cheaper than English merchants, 
the English consumer was benefited by the trade being in their 
hands, and a saving of labour was made. The second end, how- 
ever, that of national defence, may, perhaps, then have partly 
justified the law. English merchants were practically compelled 
to build vessels in order to import the goods formerly imported 
by the Dutch ; and from the merchant marine came the sailors, 
and often the ships, that guarded the coasts and caused 
foreigners to hesitate before insulting the English government. 
The usage English traders had experienced in the East Indies 
from the Dutch, in the West Indies from the Spaniards, had 
proved the necessity of England's possessing a powerful navy, if 
she was either to extend her trade or protect her colonies. 

The Dutch sent ambassadors to resume the negotiations, and 
obtain the repeal of the new law, but so unfriendly was the feeling 
existing between the two nations, that while the ambassadors 
were still in the country, the English and Dutch admirals, Blake 
and Van Tromp, engaged with their fleets in the Downs (19th 
May). Each admiral accused the other of having been the 
aggressor, and war with Holland was now declared (19th July.) 
Blake sailed to the eastern coast of Scotland, where he surprised 
600 Dutch fishing vessels, and exacted from them the tribute of 
the tenth herring. Meanwhile Van Tromp was prevented by a 
contrary wind from approaching a small fleet of fifteen vessels, 
left in the channel under the command of Ayscue to guard the 

* See p. 252. 



165 2.] WAR WITH THE DUTCH. 301 

English coasts. He sailed north in search of Blake, but while in 
the German Ocean a violent storm so damaged his fleet, that he 
returned to Holland with his vessels reduced to a third of their 
former number. The Dutch, who thought themselves better 
sailors than the English, were deeply mortified at their misfor- 
tunes, which they ascribed to the " witch-wind" that prevented 
their admiral from attacking Ayscue. Nor were the English 
satisfied with such fortuitous successes. They remarked that the 
country had run great hazards during the summer, from which 
it had escaped rather by fortune of wind and weather than by the 
providence of committee or admiral. The committee of council 
which was at the head of the Admiralty, was, in the opinion of 
many, too large a body to conduct the affairs of the navy with 
the skill and expedition required in time of war. The council 
was now informed that "they were letting slip many fair 
opportunities, and were like to play a very dangerous after-game, 
for the Dutch were preparing a great fleet, and would pass 
through the channel to convoy their merchantmen, when the best 
of the English ships would be called in for want of victuals. * 
These fears proved not unfounded. Some of Blake's ships were 
under repair, while twenty others had been despatched to the 
Mediterranean, when Van Tromp, with 95 vessels, passed down 
the channel. Though Blake had only 37, he preferred fighting to 
retreating down the channel, and thus leaving the coast towns 
nnguarded. An engagement took place off Dover, which lasted 
from eleven in the morning until dark. Although the fleets 
were so unequal in numbers, Blake under cover of the night, suc- 
ceeded in reaching the Thames in safety with the larger part of 
his damaged fleet. Two vessels fell into the hands of the Dutch 
the " Garland " and one other merchantman, which, when the rest 
made off, were left fighting 'board and board' with Van Tromp s 
own flagship (29th Nov.). 

On news of this defeat great discouragement prevailed amongst 
the seamen, great fear amongst the people. General Monk wasasso- 
ciated with Blake and Dean in commandof the fleet,andfour or five 
special commissioners of the Admiralty were appointed, with Vane 
at their head. Vane'sname itself was sufficient to serve as a guaran- 
tee for an honest administration. The commissioners made every 
effort to repair the fleet and place it in a flourishing condition. 
* Colonel Thompson's Notes upon the Dutch War in Bodleian MSS. 



$02 FOREIGN RELATIONS. [eump pam*. 

" They sent letters to all vice-admirals and mayors of sea towns 
to stir up seamen to engage in the service. The best and ablest 
commanders that could be heard of were invited to the service 
and entertained, if they were men of courage and civil conversa- 
tion, and keeping good order in their ships. No fee or gratuity 
was suffered to be given or taken by any man for their places. 
The seamen were well paid ; the wives and children of the slain 
were provided for ; pensions were given to the wounded. Inquiry 
was made after misdemeanours in officers, and of embezzlements 
of stores and prize goods, and such officers were removed whose 
actions appeared to be ill. The commissioners sat daily at White- 
hall, both early and late, and were private in their debates."* 
Early in the spring Yan Tromp, convoying on their return voyage 
up the channel more than 200 laden merchantmen, fell in with 
the English admirals off Portland Isle. On three successive days 
the two fleets, each of 80 or 90 sail, were engaged. The battle, 
begun off Portland Isle, extended to the coast of Holland. The 
Dutch were entirely defeated, and compelled to seek refuge in the 
shallow waters of the Texel, whither the English vessels, which 
drew more water than theirs, were unable to pursue. In this 
defeat the Dutch lost eleven men-of-war and thirty merchant- 
men (18, 19, 20 Feb., 1653). 

* Colonel Thompson's Notes. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FALL OF REPUBLICANS, AND BAREBONES' PARLIAMENT 
(1651—1653). 

"Nothing is good for a nation but that which arises from its own core and 
its own general wants, without apish imitation of another ; since what to one 
race of people, of a certain age, is a wholesome nutriment, may, perhaps, 
prove a poison for another. — Goethe's Conversations with Ecker- 

MANN. 

Cromwell, in his despatch to the Parliament, called his victory at 
"Worcester a crowning mercy, words which the Republicans under- 
stood in a double sense. Conscious that he adhered to their party 
rather by sufferance than on principle, they dreaded to what use 
he might turn his influence with the army, now that his sword 
was sheathed. There was certainly cause for fear. The size of 
the army had been gradually increased during the late wars, so 
that the forces in England, Ireland, and Scotland numbered up- 
wards of 50,000 men. The character of the army, moreover, was 
to some extent altered from what it was in the year ; 48, when 
the soldiers nearly mutinied against their officers for treating with 
the king. Since Fairfax' resignation, Cromwell had used his posi- 
tion as commander-in-chief to weed out of the ranks violent agi- 
tators, supplying their places by any who were willing to enter 
the service, even old Royalists, so long as these proved themselves 
orderly and good soldiers. Thus the men, no longer accustomed 
to hold meetings, pass resolutions, and form plans of their own, 
had, as a rule, become more ready to obey the commands of their 
general without questioning his purposes; while the fanatical ele- 
ment which still remained, the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchists, 
at this time placed a blind confidence in Cromwell, because they 
knew that he shared their desire of reforming the law and the 
Church. 

A change was not only discernible in the character of the ranks, 
but also in that of the council of officers. Here also it was due to 



304 DEATH OF IRETON. [ruaip pari, 

Cromwell, who, unwilling that the government of the country 
should rest upon a small Eepublican faction, was always ready to 
advance merit wherever he met it, and constantly succeeded in 
attaching to his service men of contrary principles to his own. 
Lord Broghill, to whom the Commons had just voted £2000, had 
been a Royalist. He was a son of the Earl of Cork, and 
his Irish influence made him an important acquisition. He 
was passing through London, on his way to join Charles Stuart 
on the continent, when Oliver, about to proceed to Ireland, 
paid him an unexpected visit, and told him he must either 
go to the Tower, or accept a command in the Irish army. Brog- 
hill asked for a little time in which to make up his mind. " Im- 
possible," replied Cromwell ; " if I leave you, my offer rejected, 
you will be at once a State prisoner." The offer was accepted. 
General Monk, now commander-in-chief in Scotland, was also an 
old Royalist, who had once fought in the king's armies in Ireland. 
Men such as these, unlike the heroes of Marston Moor and Naseby, 
allowed their principles to be identical with their interests. Ac- 
cepting facts as they stood, it seemed to them unreasonable to follow 
any other line of action than that of supporting whatever govern- 
ment was best able to support itself. Meantime, the one link that 
remained between the Republicans and Cromwell was gone, when 
Ireton died at the age of forty-one, with a burning fever upon him, 
while still acting as commander-in-chief in Ireland (Nov. 26th), 
Ireton had great influence with the army ; he used to say to his 
soldiers and f ellow-ofncers, ' You may not want to do a thing, but 
you must do it, because the good of the State requires it of you ;' 
sternly just, and though fond of his own way, yet ready to yield to 
those that first yielded to him, as hard to himself as to others, he 
won obedience by the confidence he inspired in his men. The 
Republicans he inspired with an equal confidence, and when they 
distrusted Cromwell they still trusted Ireton. But now aware of 
the change produced in the army, the Republicans were indignant 
with Cromwell for having, as they said, turned out "godly 
men, and put in rascally turncoat Cavaliers, pitiful sottish 
beasts of his own alliance." Yet there could be no matter of doubt 
that Cromwell was right alike in rendering the army more sub- 
missive in temper, and in conciliating men of all parties, whatever 
their principles or views. An army that refuses obedience to its 
commanders necessarily becomes demoralized, and can only bring 



1651.] DOCTRINAIRE REPUBLICANISM. 305 

mischief upon the country it professes to serve. The Eepublicans, 
dreading the increased power of the general, forgot the danger 
with which their government had been threatened by the muti- 
nies of the Levellers. The second point, that touched the neces- 
sity of conciliating political opponents, was more important still. 
No government, whatever its inherent merits, however honest and 
upright the men who conduct it, can hope to be lasting unless it 
conciliates a general support sufficient to make it rest on a 
national as distinct from a party basis. In this the Republicans 
had entirely failed. The dream of Vane, Bradshaw, Martin, 
Ludlow, and Hutchinson, of establishing a " free commonwealth, 
with the hearts and affections of the people to support it," was 
still as far from fact as on the day when Colonel Pride stood at the 
door of the Commons and turned Presbyterian members back 
from the threshold. The Republicans had, in fact, made a capital 
error in abolishing the two established institutions of monarchy 
and an Upper House in obedience to a theory. No single 
form of government can be said to be good for all nations 
without regard to circumstances of climate, race, progress, and 
the history of the past. To alter a form of government, to 
change the relations which the executive, judicial, and legisla- 
tive powers hold to one another, is a most delicate operation. 
Governments grow with the growth ot nations, and shape them- 
selves according to the circumstances of the national history. Hence 
a government rooted in the past is strong in the affections of a 
people, while a constitution transplanted or written on paper 
rarely lasts beyond the particular exigency which called it 
forth. Reforms, therefore, which, in an advancing state of 
civilization must always be needful, ought never to be introduced 
by means of violent changes, but, as far as possible, under the dis- 
guise of those old forms to which a people is already accustomed. 
A. despotism, it is true, can rarely be changed into a free govern- 
ment without, as it were, setting the axe at the root of the tree, 
and planting a new constitution in the place of one man's will. 
This was the case in France at the time of the Revolution. Put her 
history ever since has been a warning of the danger of snapping 
the chain that connects the past with the present. It has been 
well said that those who do so must prove that their work pro- 
duces more good than evil. The men who established a republic 

20 



306 BACON ON EEFORMS. [bump parl. 

in England in the seventeenth century failed to prove the good 
they did was greater than the good they undid. The English con- 
stitution they upset was distinctly free, though certain reforms 
were needed to shear the crown of prerogatives which in bad hands 
were fatal to liberty. Part of the work had been done by the 
laws passed by the Long Parliament ; there remained the second, 
and possibly more difficult part of finding a king who would con- 
sent to allow his ministers to be responsible to Parliament. The 
foresight of Pym had provided for the emergency. There is 
little doubt that when he invited to London Charles Louis, the 
elector palatine, and elder brother of Rupert, he thought he had 
found such a king, and contemplated a change of succession. But 
Pym was long dead and gone, and there had now risen a race of 
politicians who drew their statesmanship from Biblical or 
classical models, and not from the study of English constitutional 
history. The scheme of the Republicans happened unfor- 
tunately to be utterly incapable of fitting on to old institu- 
tions. They would not hear of a government consisting of two 
Houses of Parliament, with a president bearing the name of 
king, though such a government might have been made practi- 
cally Republican. What they proposed to establish was govern- 
ment by a standing assembly, re-elected or recruited at stated in- 
tervals ; and to this it was impossible that the nation should give 
a willing adherence. They might have accomplished more for 
their country, had they laid to heart the weighty sentences of the 
great philosopher of their youth. "It is true," says Bacon, "that 
what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet, at least, it is 
fit ; and those things which have gone long together are, as it 
were, confederate within themselves, whereas new things piece 
not so well ; but, though they help by their utility, yet they 
trouble by their inconformity ; besides, they are like strangers, 
more admired and less favoured. It were good, therefore, that 
men in their innovations would follow the example of time itself, 
which, indeed, innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees 
scarce to be perceived, for otherwise whatsoever is new is unlooked 
for ; and ever it mends some and iwipairs other ; and he that 
is holpen takes it for a fortune, and thanks the time ; and he 
that is hurt for a wrong, and imputeth it to the author. It is good 
. also not to try experiments in states, except the necessity be 
urgent, or the utility evident ; and well to beware that it be the 



1651.] HIGH COURTS OF JUSTICE. 307 

reformation that draweth on the change, and not the desire of 
change that pretendeth the reformation."* 

The dislike of nobles, gentry, lawyers, the Presbyterians,, the 
masses, to the new government was mainly one of sentiment, 
arising from the abolition of monarchy and the House of Lords. 
With those who were moved by these constitutional feelings, any 
attempt at conciliation would probably have been useless. The 
Republicans, however, despite their numerical weakness, made a 
second error, and did not try to conciliate even the democratic 
party beneath them by granting the reforms desired in the law 
and the church. In fact, the character of their government to- 
wards all parties alike was harsh and revolutionary. Nor was 
this a matter of surprise, for the form of that government was in- 
trinsically bad. The Commons were sole legislators ; they ap- 
pointed executive officers out of their own number ; they often 
took upon themselves to act as judges ; they were not held in 
check by fear of a dissolution ; they were, in fact, in possession 
of absolute power. It is hardly possible for a body of men, thus 
emancipated from the control of constituents, to act the part 
either of just or moderate rulers. The selfish, cruel, and avaricious 
will number as many as the generous and upright. Tempta- 
tions will be great, and the indifferent, sheltering themselves 
behind numbers, will consent to deeds which they would blush to 
own, were they acting on their sole responsibility. The 
treatment Royalists experienced from this body was of Royalists. 
.not such as to allay enmity, or heal wounds yet green. 

Following the bad precedent set at the trial of the king, High 
Courts of Justice were constantly instituted to try those suspected 
of treason against the Commonwealth. The Duke of Hamilton 
and two other leaders engaged in the Royalist risings and the 
Scottish invasion of the year 1648, were put to death by the 
sentence of one of these revolutionary tribunals. During the 
second war with the Scots there were in England four Royalist 
and Presbyterian plots, and twenty-seven persons engaged in 
them were executed in thirteen months. f Lilburne hit the weak 
points of the government in one of his seditious pamphlets. 
' When/' he wrote, " I came to hear Capel make his defence be- 
fore the High Court of Justice, and cite statutes to prove all 
treasons should be tried by the rules of the common law, looking 
* Bacon's Essays, xxiv., of Innovations. t Guizot, i. 152. 

•20—2 



308 TKIALS AND CONFISCATIONS. [bttmp paei*, 

round about him and saying, ' I am an Englishman, and the law 
my inheritance, and the benefit of the Petition of Eight my birth- 
right ;' — and looking upon the president, ' where is my jury ? I 
see none of my jury ; I demand the right of my jury, without 
verdict of whom I cannot in law be condemned ;' — bringing for- 
ward their own declarations to maintain the fundamental laws of 
the nation ; — but when all was to no purpose, I confess my heart 
was ready to sink within me, and I had much ado in the open 
court to contain myself from an avowed detestation of their 
abominable wickedness."* 

In order to provide funds for the war, Cavaliers who had 
hitherto escaped were hunted out and forced to compound. In 
1651 seventy Cavaliers had all their lands and goods confiscated ; 
in 1652, the year after the battle of Worcester, twenty-nine suffered 
in the same manner, while 682 had to pay to the republic one 
third part of the value of their lands and goods. Where the 
sufferers had really fought against the government, no exception 
could be taken to the severity used, though it was not likely to. 
conciliate; but too often estates were confiscated and fines imposed 
with gross injustice, and the ' Commonwealth men' grew rich on 
spoils unfairly wrung from their prostrate enemies. + Cromwell's, 
indignation rose as he saw " poor men driven like flocks of sheep 
by forty in a morning to the confiscation of goods and estates, 
without any man being able to give a reason why two of them 
had deserved to forfeit a shilling."! 

Levellers, like Royalists, received harsh measure. Lilburne,. 
Lilburne as concerned in the mutinies of the soldiers, was tried 
banished. \yj j ur y for high treason, and, much to the discontent 
of his accusers, acquitted (Oct., 1649). It was not long, how- 
ever, before he was again in trouble. His uncJe, George Lilburne,. 
was deprived of some coal mines in Durham by sentence of the 
county committee for sequestering delinquents' estates. An ap- 
peal was made to ' the Committee of Parliament for the composi- 
tion of delinquents' estates/ and a second time the cause was 
( lecided against George Lilburne. Hereupon ' Freeborn John * 
presented the House with a petition containing a fierce attack 
upon Haslerig, as the chairman of the county committee. The 
House, upon the report of a committee appointed to investigate 

f Fund. Liberties of England vindicated (1649). 

f Hutob.., 353, 355 ; see also Hallam, i. 657. £ Carlyle, iii. 44. 



4651—2.] BANISHMENT OF LILBCJKNE. 309 

•the case, negatived the charges stated in the petition, and voted 
that Lilburne should pay ,£3000 to the republic, £2000 to Has- 
lerig, be banished for life, and in case of return suffer death as 
a felon. As he refused to kneel at the bar of the House and hear 
his sentence read, an Act of Parliament, embodying its contents, 
was drawn up and passed against him. The irregularities of 
this course are obvious enough. In the first place county com- 
mittees are found still sitting and taking the place of proper 
courts of justice, as in the confessed revolutionary times pre- 
ceding the king's execution ; in the second, the Legislature is 
seen acting as a court of justice, and passing a sentence out of all 
proportion to the offence committed. Had Lilburne been tried 
for defamation, and found guilty by jury in a court of common 
law, the heaviest punishment that the judges could by law 
have inflicted upon him, would have been a fine and corporal 
punishment.* Those who condemned him to banishment for 
life were not unbiassed judges, but political enemies, who 
acted as jury by declaring him guilty of crime, as judges by 
passing sentence upon him, as legislature by embodying 
their sentence in a law. Nor was Lilburne's a solitary case.f 
" The House," says Whitelock, " took upon them and exercised 

* Godwin, iii. 337- 

f The discoverer of unsequestered property belonging to 'delinquents' 
received Is. in the £. By the warrant of county committees, the property 
of any who had rendered the slightest service to the royal cause was liable 
to be sequestered. For instance, John Browne, a gentleman owning estates 
in Herefordshire, being a minor and left destitute of the means of subsistence, 
was "forced to seek out his guardian and go into the king's quarters, where- 
by he became a delinquent." He did, indeed, bear arms as a Royalist, but. 
atoned for this by serving afterwards for three years in the Parliament's 
army. Petitioning on that account to be admitted to compound for his 
estate, he was still fined a-tenth of his property. A Lancashire husbandman, 
for simply supplying a cheese to the soldiers at a Royalist rendezvous, (where 
he was summoned on pain of death by Lord Derby's officers), had his pro- 
perty sequestered, though he ever after lived in the Parliament's quarters, 
submitted to their committees, and took the covenant. Members of these 
committees were often paid the debts owing to them by Parliament out or" 
delinquents' estates. " God of His mercy grant," says a journal of the 
time, " that for the future, it may never see a perpetuity added to the two 
Houses of Parliament ; nor committees to manage the justice of the kingdom 
and sit judges of men's liberties, estates, and fortunes, admitting not the law 
for their rule, but their own arbitrary, revocable, disputable orders and ordi- 
nances." It was said, indeed, that if a man had a single enemy on a com- 
mittee, it was impossible to obtain justice, for 'against malice there was no 
, fence. '—Military Mem. of Col. Birch, 63, 96, 219, 236 ; Sir Roger Twys 
den's Journal, quoted in Bisset, Omitted Chapter of English History. 



310 SHOKTCOMINGS OF EEPUBLICANS. [eump par£. 

all manner of jurisdiction, and sentenced persons at discretion, 
which was disliked by many lawyers of the House (of which I 
was one) ; and we showed them the illegality and breach of 
liberty in those arbitrary proceedings." 

While the House treated Royalists and Levellers harshly, ift 
passed over lightly the offences of friends. For instance, a certain 
Lord Howard of Esrick, was proved to have been bribed by 
Eoyalists to give them easy terms in compounding. Though 
sentenced to be fined and imprisoned, he was kept in confine- 
ment but a very short time, and his fine remitted. Many of the- 
members themselves took advantage of their position to secure 
salaries or grants of land from their party. Even in the matter of 
religious toleration, the House fell far short of the principles of 
the best men in it ; Catholic priests taken in the country w T ere 
banished, and the Long Parliament's laws enforced, which for- 
bade Episcopalians the exercise of their own forms of worship. 
It must not, however, be supposed that unjust sentences and 
harsh votes were passed without opposition ; Martin would seek 
to save the life of a Royalist, urging what was, perhaps, the 
only argument that could have weight in such a House, the old 
adage that ' the blood of the martyr would be the seed of the 
church :' and there were others beside him who still remained 
faithful to the great principle of liberty of conscience. Vane 
showed the pecuniary incorruptibility which is the boast but not 
always the practice of republican virtue : he was the first to break 
through the iniquitous usage by which the commissioners of the 
navy received a percentage on the money expended ; after re- 
funding vast sums and securing a fixed salary for his agent, he 
worked himself for nothing. Yet members such as Vane, 
Martin, Bradshaw, and Ludlow, in spite of their integrity, noble 
intentions, and high principles, were unable to drag along the 
dead weight behind them. The House was judged by the votes 
and acts of the majority, and the government of this absolute 
Parliament was as much detested as that of any single tyrant. 

Cromwell took a line of his own. The Republicans had always 
complained he was not hand and glove with them ; they now 
doubted whether he would give them even a passive support. His 
aim as well as theirs had been the establishment of a free govern- 
ment, which should win the nation's trust and regard. Their means 
to this end had been tried and had failed. Their failure Cromwell 



1652.] POSITION OF CROMWELL. 311 

had foreseen from the first, but at the time of the establishment 
of the republic he had not been strong enough to oppose their 
wishes without endangering the common cause. Now he might 
hope, not only to head, but to some extent to guide, his party. 
The army was a far more obedient instrument to his hand than 
it had ever been before, while the feeling of the levelling and 
reforming party towards him was entirely changed. "When he 
treated with Charles, they had joined with the Republican}* 
against him ; now they looked upon him as their own leader in 
the cause of popular reform. 

Misgovernment, disorder, injustice, Cromwell detested as 
only a man can who is himself possessed of the genius to govern 
well. There may, therefore, be truth in the assertion that after 
the ' crowning mercy ' at Worcester, he did determine in his own 
mind to bring the present government to an end. Yet he was 
no self-seeking intriguer, such as his enemies supposed him. 
Ambitious he was in the true sense of seeking a vantage-ground 
for good. Conscious of ability, he hears the voice of his suffering 
nation calling aloud for a physician. Unhasting, he can wait 
till more eager hands have tried and failed. If he desires power, 
it is to accomplish a task that none other can. Had Cromwell 
fallen short of this amount of ambition, he would have fallen 
short also of being the greatest man of his time. More, how- 
ever, than his country's needs, more than the knowledge of his 
own capacity in some measure to relieve them, urged him on to 
the destruction of the republic. For in the long course of events 
that had raised him, who once lived as a country gentleman on 
his farm, to be now the most powerful man in the state, he saw 
the directing hand of God. When he would have treated with 
Charles and allowed him to retain the title of king, Republicans 
and Levellers had been given the power to force him from his path. 
Fairfax' resignation of the chief command, victory following upon 
victory, had invested him with extraordinary power. To use this 
power for, what he now believed, the good of his country, seemed 
a duty imposed upon him by God. If it was necessary to convert 
old friends into enemies, he must not sacrifice duty to friendship. 
" I need pity," he wrote in a private letter to the father of his 
daughter-in-law ; " I know what I feel. Great place and busi- 
ness in this world is not worth the looking after ; I should have 
no comfort in mine, but that my hope is in the Lord's presence. 



312 POSITION OF PARLIAMENT. [rump parl. 

I have not sought these things ; truly I have been called untc 
them by the Lord, and therefore am not without some assurance 
that He will enable His poor worm and weak servant to do His 
will, and to fulfil my generation. In this I desire your prayers."* 
Standing in the midst of the universal discontent, Cromwell 
seemed to feel himself the friend and protector of all the oppressed. 
When the Catholics petitioned the House for relief, Vane spoke 
in their favour and was beaten : Cromwell, without heeding the 
votes, gave protection from persecution by his own hand and 
seal.f In the distribution of livings between Presbyterians and 
Independents, the Republicans unduly favoured the Indepen- 
dents ; it was Cromwell, the Independent, who sent a guard to 
a church to prevent an Independent from taking violent pos- 
session of a pulpit belonging to a Presbyterian : he tolerated 
even the Presbyterian preachers who told his soldiers that 
they broke the covenant in making war upon the Scots. It was 
Cromwell who, when Royalists were being deprived in large 
numbers of their estates, persisted in making the House pass an 
Act of Oblivion for the pardon of offences committed before Wor- 
cester (24th Feb., 1652) : the Republicans had looked to the 
confiscations as a support for the Dutch war, but Cromwell 
thought funds for a foreign war were ill bought by stirring the 
embers of civil strife at home. And, lastly, it was Cromwell 
who could be trusted to attack the abuses which made the Ana- 
baptists cry out for reform in the church, and who could sympa- 
thize with plain-dealing soldiers like Colonel Pride who " wished 
to see the lawyers' gowns hanging up in Westminster Hall by 
the side of the colours and trophies taken at Dunbar." 

It was certain that the present relation of parties could not 
last. Since the Commonwealth was first established, the House 
had been repeatedly called upon by the officers to do two 
acts, to reform the law, and to fix a time for a dissolution. 
Though committees upon both questions were appointed, they 
did not advance quickly in their work. . Through the opposition 
of the lawyers, a strong and influential body in the House, little 
reform was effected in the law beyond the passing of an act that 
all law-books should be translated out of Latin into English, and 
that all law proceedings should be conducted in the English 

* Carl., ii. 161. f Harris, Life of Cromwell. 



1652.] DISSOLUTION OR PERPETUATION? 31.3 

language. Members again were by no means anxious to divest 
themselves of the supreme power they possessed, and up to the 
date of the battle of Worcester (3rd Sept., 1651), the House had 
come to no decision whatever on the question of its own dissolu- 
tion. When, however, the general and his officers entered 
London, as the victors of Dunbar and Worcester, and demanded 
with voices not to be gainsaid, that they should know for how 
long the present government was to continue, the House, by 
a very small majority, passed a vote that it would dissolve on 
the 3rd Nov., 1654, thus giving itself three more years of life 
(17th Nov., 1651). The date proposed was so distant that the 
vote gave no satisfaction. The eager reformers of law and 
church looked to Cromwell to bring matters to a speedier conclu- 
sion. The officers, generally, had no intention of allowing a 
clique of some fifty politicians to remain sovereigns for three 
years longer. Before the time of Pride's Purge, they had peti- 
tioned in favour of elective monarchy, by * which they meant the 
kind of government afterwards represented by the Protectorate. 
They now simply petitioned for a Dissolution Bill providing for 
the calling of a new Parliament. Themselves preferring a Re- 
public, they were, nevertheless, too practical in their aims to care 
more for the form than the substance, and were likely to be 
content with any government that assured influence to them- 
selves, and a safe existence to the army. Thus pressed, the 
Republicans consented to introduce a bill for a new representa- 
tive (13th Aug.), but at the same time were careful so to frame it 
that they themselves should still remain in exclusive possession 
of sovereign power. The next House of Commons was to consist 
of 400 members ; all members, however, of the present House 
were to keep their seats, and be able at pleasure to reject newly- 
elected members. The officers held repeated conferences with 
members of Parliament about the bill that was now being has- 
tened through the House. "This is no dissolution," they said, 
" nothing but a perpetuating of yourselves ; we want men who 
will reform the law, and you were three months settling what a 
single word, ' incumbrance/ meant ; reform will never get on at 
that rate." " You must go," said Oliver ; " the nation loathes 
your sitting." The members, however, far from being wrought 
upon to alter their bill, replied obstinately that in the House they 
had the right of their yeas and their noes. 



314 EXPULSION OF LONG PARLIAMENT. [bump pakl. 

On the 19th of April, a conference held at "Whitehall ended with 
an agreement that the objectionable bill should be laid aside 
until a second meeting had been held the following afternoon at 
the same place. The members, however, who made this agree- 
ment had no real power to bind the House. The next day, while 
about forty officers and members were discussing the question of 
dissolution, messages were brought to the general that the objec- 
tionable 'Perpetuation Bill' was being hurried through the House, 
and would shortly be made law. Cromwell left the conference, 
and ordering a company of his own regiment of musketeers to 
follow him, led the way to "Westminster. Leaving the soldiers 
at the Commons' door, he entered the House, not in uniform, but 
" clad in plain black clothes and gray worsted stockings, and sat 
down, as he used to do, in an ordinary place." He listened for 
some time with interest to the debate, but when the question was 
about to be put ' That this bill do now pass,' he whispered to 
Major-General Harrison, " This is the time ; I must do it," " rose 
up, put off his hat, and spoke, at first in commendation for their 
pains and care of the public good, but afterwards he changed his 
style, told them of their injustice, self-interest, and other faults." 
"Perhaps you think," he said, "this is not Parliamentary lan- 
guage ! I confess it is not, neither are you to expect any such from 
me." " The first time," said Sir Peter Wentworth, rising, " I ever 
heard such unbecoming language given to Parliament ; it is the 
more horrid in that it comes from our servant, and that servant 
whom we have so highly trusted and obliged." But as he was 
going on, the general stepped into the midst of the House, " Come, 
come, I will put an end to your prating," and " clapping on his 
hat," walked up and down the floor and chid them roundly, saying, 
" You are no Parliament ; I say you are no Parliament ;" and 
looking and pointing at one member, said, " There sits a drunk- 
ard," and then pointing at a second gave him a bad word, though 
without mentioning names, while to Harrison he called out, 
'•'Bring them in." And then entered some thirty musketeers, 
ready to obey their general, whatever his orders might be. 
"This is not honest," cried Vane from his seat; "yea, it is 
against morality and common honesty." ""What shall we do 
with this bauble ? Here, take it away," said Oliver, picking up 
the mace, and handing it to a musketeer. " Take him down," 
he then said, addressing Harrison, and pointing at the Speaker. 



20tk Apbil, 1653.1 EXPULSION OF LONG PARLIAMENT. 315 

" Come down," said Harrison. " I will not come down, anless 1 
am forced," replied Lenthall, frowning, and trying to rise to the 
occasion, as he had done when Charles in that same House had 
demanded the five members of him. " Take him down," repeated 
Oliver ; whereupon Harrison pulled Lenthall by the gown, who 
descended from his chair, and the rest of the members, fifty-three 
in all, after a little pretence of resistance, followed their Speaker 
out of the House. When all were gone, the Lord General locked 
the door, and put the key in his pocket. By break of day the 
next morning some Royalist wit had stuck a placard on the 
Commons' door : " This house is to be let, now unfurnished."* 

Thus the law that this Parliament should not be dissolved 
without its own consent was broken by one of those who had 
given his vote to its making. f The original justification of 
the law was that it secured the just rights of the nation against 
the violence of the king. That this was the original purpose was 
shown by the fact that it was passed within three months of a 
triennial bill, which it was intended to supplement rather than 
supersede. When it was diverted from this purpose, and was 
used to secure the selfish aims of the members against the just 
rights of the nation, it became at orce unconstitutional. The 
Commons had received a definite commission, and had no right 
to enlarge this commission without a fresh reference to the people 
who had appointed them. Temporary trustees have no right to 
make their tenure perpetual. The Commons were temporary re- 
presentatives, and had no right to make themselves life peers, still 
less to intrigue for a power of co-optation by demanding a veto on 
new elections. The temporary justification was gone. The king 
was no more ; the House of Lords was no more ; the House of 
Commons was no longer a representative body. Danger resulted 
to the nation from the continuation of the House, not from its 
dissolution. In conquering Charles it had saved England from 
the establishment of a despotism, but it had not shown itself 
capable of the necessary afterwork of reconstruction. The country 
was drifting into anarchy ; the people submitted to the govern- 
ment solely through fear of the army ; the army and the House 
were in collision. The so-called bill for a ' new representative' 
being really a perpetuation bill, was practically a coup d'etat. 

' * Sydney Pnpers, 141 j "Whitelock, 554 ; Ludlow, li. IS, 21,. 
f See p.'lOO. 



316 END OF LONG PARLIAMENT. [babebone's. 

Powers of State must have either right or might; this Par- 
liament had neither. Still, to resort to armed force is a blot 
on the origin of any new power. The establishment of a go- 
vernment that should unite in itself the elements of order 
and of reform, and thus save the nation from a third civil war, 
could alone justify Cromwell's employment of military force 
against the civil power. The responsibility of the act does not 
rest specially on Cromwell. The officers were determined on a 
dissolution, and for some weeks past had only been restrained 
from effecting their purpose by the opposition of Cromwell him- 
self, who to the last clung to the hope that the House would yet 
be persuaded to dissolve itself. " I speak here," he said, a few 
months later, " in the presence of some that were at the closure of 
the consultations, and, as before the Lord, the thinking of an act 
of violence was to us worse than any battle that ever we were in, 
or that could be, to the utmost hazard of our lives ; so willing 
were we, even very tender and desirous, if possible, that these 
men might quit their places with honour," 

A temporary executive was constituted at once. The council of 
officers, and a new council of State, composed of nine army men 
and four civilians, now conducted the government between them. 
Cromwell, all-powerful as he was, did not attempt to assume the 
position which at this time he, perhaps, felt must ultimately be 
his. He was pledged to the Fifth Monarchists and the Anabap- 
tists for the reform of the law and the church, and it was accord- 
ingly in the hands of men really determined on reform that he 
now placed the government. Orders were sent out by the 
council of officers to Independents and other sectarian ministers 
in every county to consult with their congregations, and return 
the names of ' godly men,' fitted to sit in a new Parliament of 
saints. Out of the returns thus made certain persons were 
selected, to whom Cromwell sent, in his own name, writs of sum- 
mons, bidding them attend him at Whitehall, as representatives 
of different towns and counties. Five members were chosen for 
Scotland, six for Ireland, six for Wales, 139 for England. 

The new assembly is sometimes called the Little Parliament, 
Barebone's sometimes by the nickname of Barebone's Parliament, 
Parliament. f rom ^he name of one of its members, Praise-God Bare- 
bone, a leather-seller in Fleet Street. It has been represented by 
its enemies as composed of a set of ignorant fanatics. This, how- 



1653.] LAW REFORM. 317 

ever, was not the case. Many members were gentlemen, most were 
men of some mark, if not able to boast of great fortunes or high 
birth. In it were General Monk and other distinguished officers; 
Admiral Blake ; Lockhart, afterwards ambassador in France ; 
Viscount Lisle, son of the Earl of Leicester ; and Alderman Ire- 
ton, brother of the late Lord-Deputy of Ireland. 

The first grand reform which the Parliament undertook was that 
of the law. The general administration of English law was then, 
as it still is, divided into two distinct branches, that of common 
law, administered by the three Courts of King's Bench, Com- 
mon Pleas, and Exchequer, and that of equity, administered by 
the Court of Chancery. 

English common law originated in the unwritten rules or 
customs, derived in part from Saxon times, in part from the feudal 
system as introduced by the Normans. These unwritten rules 
or customs were in the course of time embodied in the decisions 
of the judges, who were guided, not only by the customs already 
spontaneously observed by the people, and the analogy of previous 
decisions, but also, though not professedly, by their own studies 
in Eoman law and their own ideas of right and expediency. The 
ideal of early times is a fixed law unaltered by those in power. 
There is little demand for an adjusting legislation and less supply. 
But as circumstances change, the justice of one generation be- 
comes injustice to another. The present source of adjustment is 
mainly in statutes made by Parliament, but for a long time there 
was little adjustment at all, and what there was came mainly out 
of the breasts of the judges, who used legal fictions as their means 
of quietly modifying the law. Such fictions have been justly de- 
scribed as t invaluable expedients for overcoming the rigidity of 
law/ but they do not adjust the law either rapidly or completely 
enough, and their use gradually loads a system with technicali- 
ties. It necessarily followed that English common law became a 
complicated system, not easily reducible to general rules, and not 
easily understood except by those who had received a special 
education. Complaints were raised by the reformers that the 
client was left at the mercy of his advocate, for none could under- 
stand the law but lawyers trained ; that law-books were so many 
and so costly that few could buy them ; that decisions of former 
judges were often contradictory ; that the fees demanded by law- 
yers were excessive, the delays of justice intolerable, and costs so 



318 LAW KEFORM. [BAEEBONKb. 

great that the poor were shut out from redress at law ; while the 
punishments enacted were unnecessarily severe, and were often 
arranged so as to press heavily on the offences of the poor, and let 
•the rich off easily. Bentham, as late as the beginning of the 
present century, repeats the complaints of the reformers of the 
seventeenth: — "It is the people's interest that delay, vexa- 
tion, and expense of procedure should be as small as possible ; 
it is the advocate's interest that they should be as great as 
possible. As to uncertainty in the law, it is the people's inte- 
rest that each man's security against wrong should be as complete 
as possible ; that all his rights should be known to him ; that all 
acts which, in case of his doing them, will be treated as offences, 
may be known to him as such, together with their eventual pun- 
ishment, that he may avoid committing them. ... It is the law- 
yer's interest that people should continually suffer for the non- 
observance of laws, which, so far from having received efficient 
promulgation, have never yet found any authoritative expression 
in words. This is the perfection of oppression ; yet propose that 
access to knowledge of the laws be afforded by means of a code, 
lawyers, one and all, will join in declaring it impossible. To any 
effect, as occasion occurs, a judge will forge a rule of law ; to that 
game effect, in any determinate form of words, propose to make a 
law, that same judge will declare it impossible. It is the judge's 
interest that, on every occasion, his declared opinion be taken for 
the standard of right and wrong."* 

The institution of Chancery arose from an attempt to make 
law advance of itself with the increasing complexity of civilization. 
It became the chancellor's duty to interfere when, through the 
rigidity with which the common law was administered, some 
wrong was done for which law gave no remedy. Thus, in the 
now common case of property being vested in a third person as 
trustee, the common law acknowledged only the title of the 
trustee, ignoring altogether the moral rights of the parties for 
whose benefit the property was held. In these and similar cases 
the Court of Chancery intervened, on this ground — that although 
not legally bound, yet in foro conscieniice the trustee could not 
violate the trust or confidence reposed in him. Another example 
may serve to illustrate the adjusting power of the two kinds of 
law. By the rules of common law, a married woman received at 
* Bentham. on Fallacies. 



1653.] LAW AND EQUITY. 319 

her husband's death, by inalienable right, a dower of one-third 
of all the lands which had ever formed part of his estate. As 
society advanced, and the inalienable right was found to hamper 
the transfer of property, the common law courts adjusted the diffi- 
culty somewhat at the expense of the woman's security, by tole- 
rating a palpable evasion of the law of dower through a fictitious 
suit and a conveyancer's quibble. When Chancery stepped in, by 
a piece of judge-made law, it avoided the inconvenience without 
entirely losing the object in view, securing women's property by 
settlement, and yet making it transferable by trustees. As time 
progressed, the Court of Chancery became itself as much bound 
by technical rules as the courts of common law. From the 
fact that the chancellor was originally an ecclesiastic, the proce- 
dure of the Roman or civil law was adopted in his court. This 
procedure was in itself more complicated than that of the common 
law. A complicated procedure in itself causes delay, and in 
Chancery the issues themselves are complex ; for suite may not 
merely require sentences with the simple 'Yes' or 'No' of 
common law, but involve administering large estates and assign- 
ing various rights to different interests. In this system there 
was little check on the abuses of judges and officials. Much was 
delegated to the masters in Chancery, and Coke says these 
bought their appointments and recouped themselves by extor- 
tions from suitors. Moreover, the court was peculiarly open to 
the charge of corrupt motives, as before a body of precedents 
was formed the decision of each case was supposed to rest largely 
on the discretion of the chancellor. Complaints were made 
" that there were 23,000 causes depending upon the court, some 
of which had been depending five, twenty, thirty years and 
more J that there had been spent therein thousands of pounds, 
to the ruin of many families ! in one word, that the Court of 
Chancery was nothing but a mystery of wickedness and standing 
cheat I" Thus, while common law was felt to be harsh and 
technical, Chancery was still more disliked as both dilatory and 
corrupt. Many of the complaints raised were only too well 
founded, especially those that referred to the brutality of the 
criminal law,* and the delay and expense involved in the proceed- 
ings of all the courts. The reformers went boldly to work to 
remedy the evils of both systems. A committee without a single 
* See p. 261. 



320 A REFORMING PARLIAMENT. [babebone's* 

lawyer upon it, was appointed to consider the reform of the- 
law, and boldly undertook to reduce ' the great volumes of the 
law to the bigness of a pocket volume ;' while a bill for the 
abolition of Chancery was ordered to be brought into the House. 

A simple and uniform code is an invaluable boon to a nation. 
In attempting, however, in that early time, to limit the judge's 
discretion, and also to secure simplicity for civil and criminal 
code alike, the English reformers overlooked the necessities of 
a complex and changing state of society. In times of little 
legislation, it has been owing mainly to the allowance of discre- 
tion in the judges that English law has had the merit of advan- 
cing hand in hand with the needs of society. There is no 
reason, in the nature of things, why equitable principles should 
not have been recognized in the common law courts, so as to 
avoid the inconvenience of two different and conflicting systems. 
But the common law courts, having always had equity courts, 
by their side to correct the shortcomings of their branch of the 
law, retained theories based on a totally different state of things, 
which would have caused monstrous injustice, had not the appro- 
priate remedies been provided by Chancery. In the bill for the 
abolition of Chancery which was finally brought in and read 
twice, some provision was made for this need, at least for the 
time, by the appointment of commissioners to settle causes 
already before the courts, and, apparently, to deal with future 
cases of an equitable nature. What was wanted was a fusion of 
the two systems, not the abolition of equity. 

After the law followed church reform, both tithes and the 
right of patronage being brought into question. Tithes were 
then, as at the present day, the legal endowment of all parishes 
in England and Wales, and were paid in kind, the farmer giving 
the tenth pig, tenth corn-sheaf, tenth gallon of milk, and the 
like. Abuses had arisen in early times. The monasteries had 
been treated as spiritual corporations, and as such had received 
the whole tithes, of which they paid only some small portion to 
the vicar or substitute who did the duty for them. When the 
monasteries were suppressed, the great tithes which had been 
kept by the spiritual corporations often fell into the hands of 
laymen, while the vicar still received only what were called the 
small tithes. The abuses were obvious, and the mode in which 
tithes were raised was itself burdensome, and a frequent source 



1653.J ABOLITION OF PATRONAGE. 321 

of quarrels in parishes. The reformers did not propose to 
remedy the abuses of this system, but to sweep it away. The 
spiritual life of the age had come from ministers whose support 
had been the free gifts of their congregations, while the tithe- 
supported clergy had opposed the political and spiritual interests 
of the people. The popular notion, therefore, was to abolish 
tithes, and substitute a voluntary system which would render 
the minister dependent on the parishioner. 

The first point which the reformers dealt with was patronage, or 
the right of presenting ministers to livings ; this right had often 
passed with the great tithes into the hands of laymen, which 
had proved a natural and fruitful source of nepotism, and had 
also caused the scandal of next presentations being offered for 
sale. These usages, anomalous enough at all times, were then 
especially liable to abuse. Lay patronage had been long allowed, 
but it had always been supposed that the Church in some way se- 
cured that none but duly qualified ministers should be presented 
to livings. The patron nominated, the Church, at least in form, 
approved. But now in most parishes the endowments remained 
while the check of an Establishment was gone. The Presbyterian 
Church, though established by ordinance of Parliament, had 
been only set up in Lancashire and Middlesex. Hence patrons, 
being unchecked by either bishop or presbytery, were at liberty 
to impose upon congregations any ignorant or drunken kinsman 
on whom they pleased to confer a living. The reformers in Par- 
liament held, as did sectarians generally, that congregations ought 
to elect their own ministers, as the only security against abuse of 
patronage. The propensity of lawyers to treat public offices as 
private rights, has left a door open for abuse even now ; how 
much more opening was there then? And though, in later 
times, the interests of laymen in church property, anomalous 
though they are, have, no doubt, often saved the Establishment 
when threatened, yet in that time of enthusiasm the existence of 
such anomalies only increased the desire of the reformers to 
uproot the whole system. "Some young artist from Oxford/ 
they complained, "enters and takes possession of the tithes, 
of the care and cure of souls, for this his father hath bought 
for him, and who shall say him nay? What a sad account 
have the most of these proprietors for the many thousand souls 

21 



322 ABOLITION OF TITHES. [barebone',-3. 

that have perished by their means !"* Accordingly they passed 
a vote that patrons should be deprived of their right of present- 
ing to livings, and that the choice of the minister should be vested 
in the parishioners, and a bill was ordered to be brought in to 
that effect (Nov. 17th). The next question was that of the sup- 
port of the minister, when chosen. A committee reported in 
favour of the continuance of tithes ; it had, no doubt, seen that 
the interests involved were too complicated to be dealt with in the 
off-hand fashion which was in favour with the enthusiasts, who 
formed a majority of the House. Simply to sweep away tithes 
would have been to make a free gift to landowners, while there 
would have been many difficulties in diverting them to other 
uses. But the House, bent on a voluntary system, rejected the 
committee's report by a majority of two (Dec. 10th). 

Besides these violent changes many useful reforms were pro- 
posed, which do honour to Barebone's Parliament, and show that, 
though rash in execution, its legislators were in most points nearly 
two centuries in advance of their age. Chief amongst these was 
an act for the relief of debtors. The laws of debt were such that 
they gave the creditor unlimited power over the person of his 
debtor, but little or none over his property. Hence bankrupts, 
guilty of no criminal, often of no moral offence, were liable, 
through the cruelty of their creditors, to be imprisoned for life ; 
while fraudulent debtors, by not applying for release, could 
keep possession of property in defiance of their creditors. A 
' humble petition of all the prisoners for debt within the several 
tyrannical dens of cruelty, prisons, gaols, and dungeons in this 
land/ says truly enough that "restraint of men and women's per 
sons in gaol pays no debts, but defrauds the creditors, feeds the 
lawyers and gaolers, and murders the debtors ; witness the many 
thousands that have thus perished miserably, as the gaolers' books 
and coroners' records do testify. Your poor enslaved brethren, 
therefore, humbly pray that there may be no more arresting nor 
imprisonment for debt." In every county in England and Wales 
commissioners were appointed by the Parliament to investigate 
the cases of those confined for debt. Debtors who were genuinely 
bankrupt, and perishing in prison only' through the cruelty and 
obduracy of creditors, were to be granted their liberty, either un- 

* Somers, Tracts, ii. 



1653.] EEFORMS— WISE AND FOOLISH. G23 

conditionally, or for a limited space of time, at the discretion of 
the commissioners ; on the other hand, the commissioners were 
empowered to order to close imprisonment those well able., but 
unwilling to pay. To protect prisoners from extortion, the act 
enjoined that wholesome provisions should be sold them at a rea- 
sonable price ; that a table of moderate fees should be hung up in 
every prison ; and that gaolers transgressing such tables in any 
particular should forfeit fourfold to the party injured, and be set 
in the pillory. This act was at once carried into execution, and 
•300 persons were let out of London prisons alone. Another im- 
piortant euactment which this Parliament made was one for the 
registration of births, marriages, and deaths : this occurred as a 
clause in an act making civil marriage before a magistrate com- 
pulsory, the religious ceremony apparently being added or not 
at the discretion of the parties ; some change was no doubt neces- 
sary after the disestablishment of the Episcopal Church, but so 
violent a change can hardly have been otherwise than unpopular. 
Bills were also prepared for a new system of workhouses and pro- 
vision for the poor, for fixing the fees of lawyers and clerks, for 
the prevention of bribery and the delay of justice, for checking 
the greediness of the courts by paying judges by salary and not 
by fees, for establishing a registry for deeds affecting land, and 
county judicatures to make justice accessible to the poor. 

Excellent as many of these reforms were, they failed of their 
accomplishment. By voting the destruction of the Court of 
Chancery, and by proposing the abolition of tithes, which would 
have deprived the clergy of regular stipends, the reformers had 
shown they were not fit to be rulers, for they went much faster 
than the nation would follow. They had cut the knots instead of 
untying them. Abolishing equity was a violent mode of reform- 
ing the Court of Chancery ; making all ministers dependent upon 
their parishioners, a needlessly radical means of providing that 
livings should only be bestowed upon men of good character. 
Such measures especially enraged the lawyers, whose feelings 
could not be disregarded, for their support had always been one 
of the chief pillars of the Commonwealth. Besides lawyers — 
Boyalists, Presbyterians, patrons, ministers — all whose interests 
were attacked, or who felt, as most men do, attachment to old 
customs, regarded the innovators with hate and scorn, and looked 
up to Cromwell as the man who alone could stop the rash course 

21 2 



324 FINAL VICTORIES OVER DUTCH. [barebone's. 

of the Parliament, and act in time to prevent its votes from being 
turned into laws. 

In fact, even now supreme power belonged rather to Cromwell 
than to the Parliament. Ambassadors from Sweden, from Hol- 
land, and from France, were ordered to present themselves to 
Cromwell, their governments already recognizing the future 
monarch in the victorious general. The course which the Dutch 
war took in this summer served incidentally to increase his 
renown as commander-in-chief of the English forces. In the 
first engagement, the Dutch admirals, Yan Tromp, De Ruyter, 
and De Witt, met Blake, Dean, and Monk off the North Foreland. 
The battle raged for two days. Admiral Dean was killed by a 
shot, and fell at Monk's feet, who flung a cloak over the body 
in order that the sailors might not be disheartened by knowledge 
of their loss. In the end, the Dutch were entirely defeated ; 
nineteen of their vessels were destroyed, and 1300 of their sailors 
taken prisoners (2nd June). 

Again, before the end of July, Yan Tromp, who was once more 
on the water in joint command with De Witt of a fleet of nearly 
120 sail, met Monk off the coast of Holland. Though Monk 
had only ninety vessels, yet after a desperate fight of nine hours, 
the struggle ended in the complete defeat of the Dutch, whose 
brave admiral, Yan Tromp, was killed by a shot as he walked the 
deck, sword in hand. The Dutch vessels were pursued right up to 
their own coasts, 26 men-of-war were destroyed, and 1200 sailors 
were picked up as prisoners from the wrecks. The English only 
lost two ships, but 500 sailors, besides several captains, were 
killed in the action (31st July). After this second defeat the 
Dutch no longer thought of continuing the war. They had in 
the spring sent ambassadors to Cromwell to open negotiations, 
and now only endeavoured to obtain fair terms of peace. 

While the nation had reason to be proud of its generals and 
admirals, it had no sympathy with its Parliament. There had 
always been a considerable minority in that body itself, that 
opposed the violent votes carried by the reformers. On the 
morning of the 12th of December, members of this party took 
their seats early in large numbers, and proposed that the House 
should repair in a body to the Lord General, and deliver back 
into his hands the power they had received from him. The 
speaker, without venturing to put the question to the vote, left 



1653.] END OF BAREBONE'S PARLIAMENT. 32S 

Ids chair, and attended by about forty members, went to White- 
hall, where he and his companions signed a resignation of their 
power to Cromwell. Within two or three days, above eighty 
members — a majority of the whole Parliament — had consented 
to sign their names to the same instrument (12th Dec.) There 
was ' a drinking of sack, and a making of bonfires' at the 
Tnns of Court, when the news was told that Barebone's Parlia 
ment had come to an end. Yet the despised fanatics were in 
many points wiser than the lawyers. Of the reforms proposed 
by them, the larger number have been adopted, while others 
•have been held advisable, if not practicable, in the present century. 
That delays of justice should be prevented in Chancery as else- 
where, that the costs of transferring land should be diminished 
by the establishment of an effective registry for titles, are reforms 
still called for in England as they were in the time of Barebone's 
Parliament.* 

A council, composed of the leading officers and some civilians, 
now brought forward an ' Instrument of Government/ in which 
Cromwell was given the title of Lord Protector of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland. The executive government was vested 
in the protector and a council of state. The councillors were 
named in the instrument, and were not removable at the pleasure 
of the chief magistrate, but were to sit for life. A Parliament 
was to be summoned to meet in nine months, the date fixed 
being the 3rd of September (1654). Until the meeting of this 
Parliament, the protector and his council were.granted the power 

* Injustice to Barebone's Parliament, its reforms should be compared 
•with the course of subsequent legislation, (i.) Parliament passed Acts foi* the 
relief of debtors in 1813 and 1843: by the Act of 1861, fraudulent debt 
was dealt with as a criminal offence, and imprisonment of common debtors 
abolished for the rich, though practically retained for the poor : Acts were also 
passed for the reform of prisons in 1774, 1823, and 1835 ; (ii.) After the 
Restoration, criminal legislation was retrograde, and between that time and 
the death of George III., a period of 160 years, the punishment for 187 
more offences was made capital : by successive Acts between 1824 and 1861, 
the punishment of death was limited to murder and treason ; (iii.) Since 
1828, several reforms have been introduced, which diminish the delays, and 
to some extent the costs, of the courts of common law and the Court of 
Chancery: the establishment of county courts for the recovery of small 
debts has rendered justice obtainable by the poor (1846) ; (iv.) An Act 
for the registration of births, marriages, and deaths was passed in 1836 ; 
(v.) By Acts passed under William IV. and Victoria tithes were commuted 
into a rent charge upon land, payable in money, varying with the price ot 
*.corn. 



S2C CROMWELL INAUGURATED LORD PROTECTOR. 

of making ordinances to have the force of laws. After this date- 
the power of legislation was vested entirely in the Parliament, 
the protector having only a suspensory veto on bills for twenty 
days after their passing, at the expiration of which time they 
were to become law of themselves. Parliaments were to be dis- 
solved every three years, according to the provisions of the Trien- 
nial Bill. On the occurrence of any vacancy in the council, the 
protector was to choose a new member out of six candidates 
nominated by Parliament. The protector was to have command 
of all forces by sea and land, but in questions of peace or war 
was only to act with the consent of his council of state, and 
Parliament was to be immediately summoned in case of war. 
On the death of the protector a successor was to be appointed by 
the council. 

Cromwell was inaugurated Lord Protector in the Court of 
Chancery at Westminster Hall. He there took the oath tendered 
him to observe the articles of the New Instrument, and received 
from Lambert a sheathed sword to replace his own, as a sign that 
his rule was no longer military (16th Dec, 1653). 

The great scheme of a parliamentary republic had failed both 
in its original form and in that of the provisional government 
which followed the fail of the pure Republicans. That of a 
presidential republic had now to be tried, when the republican 
ideal was already discredited by a double failure. It will be 
seen in the sequel how this had again to be modified till it ap- 
proximated so closely to the old government that it became a 
monarchy in all but the name. We can see clearly enough the 
folly of the persistency with which the Republicans adhered to 
an experiment of which the failure was inevitable. Yet their 
errors were natural to their age. In judging them, men are too 
apt to forget that the history of the last two hundred years, 
which has revealed so much to us, was a sealed book to them. 
No instance of a government like that which now exists in 
England was then to be found. Greek and Roman history told the 
tale of tyrants overthrown, liberty and prosperity assured by the 
rule of republican assemblies. In Europe could be seen absolute 
monarchies, as in France and Spain on the one hand, or pure 
republics, as in Venice and Switzerland, on the other. The 
virtues of republican governments and the happiness of their 
citizens had formed the common talk of scholars since the re- 



1653.] BREACH WITH REPUBLICANS. 327 

vival of classical literature in the beginning of the previous cen- 
tury ; while almost within living memory a republic had been 
actually founded in Holland. With no alternative before them, 
the most forward minds in an age of revolution naturally de- 
veloped into the most uncompromising Eepublicans. Two men, 
however, the most remarkable of all, were not in the strict sense 
Eepublicans. At the beginning of the war, Pym had guided his 
followers towards the true land of promise, where kings should 
reign and not govern. Yet had Pym lived, it is doubtful whether 
even he, with all his vast Parliamentary influence and experience, 
could have stemmed the current of the prevailing fanaticism 
without being overwhelmed by those who had been his own sup- 
porters. Views which Pym might have set aside with a smile 
as impracticable dreams, had become the declared policy of 
men versed in public affairs, of great incorruptibility and ot 
deepest conviction. These were the men whom Cromwell had to 
face They were his friends, and had been his political chiefs, 
yet he had to prefer the safety of the State to private friendship 
and the ties of party. Had he been less than he was, he too 
might have been a Kepublican, and his name, like that of Vane, 
have passed as a model of integrity. Being what he was, it was 
inevitable that he should take a different path, but it augured ill 
for his o-overnment that its very foundations should have to 
rest upon the irreconcilable enmity of the noblest of his feLow- 
workers in the cause of freedom. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

THE FIRST THEEE YEARS OF THE PROTECTORATE (1654 — 1656). 

Heaven knows, I had no such intent. 
But that necessity so bowed the state 
That I and greatness were compelled to kiss. 

Henry IV., pt. ii., hi. 1. 

I will discover to you a political secret, which must ere long be made 
public. Capo d'Istria cannot long continue to administer the affairs of 
Greece ; he wants one requisite indispensable in that position — he is no sol- 
dier. There is no instance on record in which a mere statesman has been 
able to organize a revolutionary state, and keep under his control the mili- 
tary and their leaders. With the sabre in his hand, at the head of an army, 
a man may command and make laws, secure of being obeyed, otherwise the 
attempt is hazardous. Napoleon, if he had not been a soldier, could never 
have attained the highest power ; and Capo d'Istria will soon be forced to 
play a secondary part. — Conversations with Goethe, translated 
prom the German oe Eckerhann. 

Cromwell held bis power by will of the army. Though Ana- 
baptists and Eepublicans were hostile to the new government, 
the larger number of the common soldiers, and all the principal 
officers — Monk and Lambert, the protector's son-in-law Fleet- 
wood, and his brother-in-law Desborough — were well content to 
effect a final settlement of the kingdom by raising their general to 
be the head of the State. Milton, who, though a Kepublican, con- 
sented to continue in office as Secretary for Foreign Tongues to 
the Council of State, thus exhorted his "chief of men:" — ' Recol- 
lect that thou thyself canst not be free, unless we are so ; for it is 
fitly so provided, in the nature of things, that he who conquers 
another's liberty, in the very act loses his own ; he becomes, and 

justly, the foremost slave Thou hast taken on thyself a 

task which will probe thee to the very vitals, and disclose to the 
eyes of all how much is thy courage, thy firmness, and thy forti- 
tude ; whether that piety, perseverance, moderation, and justice 
really exist in thee, in consideration of which we have believed that 
God hath given thee the supreme dignity over thy fellows. To 



1651] THE PKOTECTOR'S IDEAL. 329 

govern three mighty States by thy counsels, to recall the people 
from their corrupt institutions to a purer and nobler discipline, to 
extend thy thoughts and send out thy mind to our remotest shores, 
to foresee all and provide for all, to shrink from no labour, to 
trample under foot and tear to pieces all the snares of pleasure 
and all the entangling seducements of wealth and power— these 
are matters so arduous that, in comparison of them, the perils of 
war are but the sports of children. These will winnow thy facul- 
ties, and search thee to the very soul ; they require a man sus- 
tained by a strength that is more than human, and whose medi- 
tations and whose thoughts shall be in perpetual commerce with 
his Maker.'* 

Cromwell, who from the first had fought in defence of liberty 
in Church and State, and who came of the same breed of men as 
Eliot, Pym, Vane, and Milton himself, would have scorned to rule 
a race of slaves. " Of the two greatest concernments," he says, 
" that God hath in this world, the one is that of religion, and of 
the just preservation of the professors of it, to give them all due 
and just liberty ; the other is the civil liberty and interest of the 
nation, which though it is, and, indeed, I think ought to be, sub- 
ordinate to the more peculiar interest of God, yet it is the next 
best God hath given men in this world, and, if well cared for, it 
is better than any rock to fence men in their other interests. 
Besides, if any whosoever think the interest of Christians and the 
interest of the nation inconsistent, I wish my soul may never 
enter into their secrets."f Such was Cromwell's ideal of govern- 
ment — one which, while leaving a people free, was to work at 
once for their material and moral improvement. In Cromwell's 
mouth, the words 'interest of religion' did not mean the interests 
of any sect : in his use of the term, he comprehended the whole 
moral life of the nation; a good education, the suppression of cruel 
sports, a reform of the criminal law — all that could tend to ele- 
vate the minds of men, he classed under the category of the in- 
terest of God. 

The protector certainly could not fairly be accused of having 
overthrown the free institutions of his country. Except during 
the dictatorship of the first few months, the powers he pos- 
sessed were rather those belonging to the chief magistrate of 

* Defensio Secunda (Godwin, iv. 20). + Carlyle, iii. 222. 



330 ENEMIES OF PliOTECTOEATE. [peotect, 

a republican state, than those exercised by former Kings of Eng- 
land. The executive was placed under the control of the legisla- 
ture ; the chief magistrate was denied a veto on laws ; his office 
was rendered elective. " For myself," he said to his first Parlia- 
ment, " I desire not to keep my place in this government an hour 
longer than I may preserve England in its just rights, and may 
protect the people of God in a just liberty of their consciences."* 
Yet there was much to hinder Cromwell in achieving his 
cherished object of establishing a free and constitutional go- 
vernment. Too much hung on a single life, and that one past its 
prime. Time, the great conciliator, could not do much for one 
who was already fifty-five. The mass of the people were sure 
to be long prejudiced in favour of their old line of princes. Ex- 
cepting his own immediate supporters, no political party favoured 
his government. Old Royalists and Presbyterians denounced him 
as guilty of treason and rebellion. The Ee publicans, Vane, Brad- 
shaw, Hutchinson, Ludlow, did not scruple to avow their hostility, 
and their intention of rising whenever a good opportunity should 
offer for the restoration of the Commonwealth. Fanatical Levellers 
and Fifth-Monarchists joined with Eoyalists in plotting against 
the new government, deluded enough to think that, after they had 
overthrown it, they should be able to crush their allies and setup 
a Parliament of their own. There was, however, a surer and 
readier means than insurrection by which the protector's enemies 
might attempt the accomplishment of their wishes — assassination. 
" There remains nothing for him to do," said the Swedish Chan- 
cellor Oxenstiern, when he heard of the establishment of the Pro- 
tectorate, " but to get him a back and breast-plate of steel." A 
proclamation was drawn in the name of Charles Stuart, and 
secretly dispersed amongst malcontent Eoyalists, Fifth-Monarch- 
ists, and Anabaptists, to the effect that, a certain base mechanic 
fellow, by name Oliver Cromwell, having usurped the throne, 
whosoever killed him by sword, pistol, or poison should receive a 
reward of ,£500 a year (1654). The life and government of the 
protector were constantly endangered by the plots of Eoyalists 
and Levellers, or of both parties united. Cromwell, however, 
proved himself more than a match for his enemies. He made 
use of his insight into character to find the right men to serve as 
spies, and was generally in full possession of the plans of his 
* Carljle, iii. 8i. 



1651] TEMPOEAEY DICTATOESHIR 331 

enemies. Conspirators, after having advanced with their pre- 
parations until within a few hours for the moment of action, 
found themselves suddenly swooped upon by the officers of justice, 
and lodged securely in prison. 

When the protector met his first Parliament, at the appointed 
date (3rd Sept.), he was prepared with a good account of his nine 
months of rule. Much to the indignation of Republicans and Ana- 
baptists, who still clung to the ambitious project of reducing the 
States and incorporating the two Republics, Cromwell had ended 
the ruinous war with Holland by granting peace on fairly moderate 
terms. The Dutch agreed to lower their flag to the English navy ; 
to banish from their territories enemies of England ; to restore to 
England the island of Poleron, in the East Indies, seized by them 
during James' reign ; to pay ,£170,000 damages to the East India 
Company ; and to give to the heirs of those massacred at Amboyna 
(p. 253) during the same reign a sum amounting to near £4000, to- 
gether with a compensation of nearly £100,000 to English traders 
to the Baltic. With the Danes (July, 1654) and with the Swedes 
(April, 1654) the protector had also concluded treaties favourable 
to the interests of English merchants. Portugal, long in disgrace 
for harbouring Rupert's fleet of privateers, had only obtained a 
treaty by consenting both to refund the expenses incurred by the 
English government in consequence of this unfriendly act, and 
also to allow English merchants liberty of conscience to worship 
in chapels of their own, and to have free use of Bibles and other 
Protestant books throughout the Portuguese dominions. 

So much for foreign affairs ; at home the protector had made 
active use of the powers granted him by the Instrument of 
Government. He had had the right to make ordinances 
and impose taxes, with the assistance of his council, until 
the meeting of Parliament. No less than eighty-two ordi- 
nances had been passed. Amongst others were two for the 
reform of the Church. The first empowered thirty-eight com- 
missioners, a body of laymen and ministers, commonly called 
' triers,' to examine and approve every person, whether presented 
by a patron, or in any other way introduced to a living, before 
allowing him to take possession (March 20th, 1654). The second 
appointed from fifteen to thirty commissioners in every county to 
expel from their offices any ministers or schoolmasters who set 
the people a bad example by neglecting their duties, and passing 



332 REFORM IN REPRESENTATION. [protect. 

their time in taverns, playing at cards and dice (28th Aug). 
Cromwell's principles of toleration, made him desirous of 
uniting Protestant sects, and he named, as commissioners 
upon these ordinances, Presbyterians, Independents, and Ana- 
baptists. To their political opinions he was indifferent, so long 
as he thought them the right men to do the work required. 
Amongst them sat, not only Fairfax, though now at heart almost 
a Koyalist, but Republicans who were bitter enemies of the pro- 
tector. The great Presbyterian, Baxter, was a ' trier' himself, 
and, though he could never forgive Cromwell's usurpation, he ad- 
mitted that good resulted from this reform. " And with all their 
faults," he says, " thus much must be said of these triers, that 
they saved many a congregation from ignorant, ungodly, drunken 
teachers, that sort of men who intend no more in the ministry 
than to patch a few good words together to talk the people asleep 
on Sunday, and all the rest of the week go with them to the 
alehouse and harden them in sin; so that, though many of them 
were somewhat partial to the Independents, Fifth-Monarchy 
men, and Anabaptists, many thousands of souls blessed God for 
the faithful ministers whom they let in."* By another of his 
ordinances Cromwell reduced the costs of suits in Chancer}" by 
simplif} ing the procedure and cutting down the fees of counsel 
and solicitors, one of those acts which few subsequent govern- 
ments have been found strong enough to repeat. 

A reform was carried out in the system of representation. 
This reform had been proposed by the Republicans, and was laid 
down in the Instrument of Government. In early times, when 
the Lower House was summoned solely for the purpose of grant- 
ing the king subsidies, attention had naturally been paid to 
allotting members to places in proportion to population anc* 
wealth. But, in the course of years, inequalities appeared. 
Towns which returned members lost their trade, and decreased in 
the number of their inhabitants, while unrepresented villages 1 >e- 
came large and thriving cities. This evil was increased by the 
practice of the princes of the Houses of Tudor and Stuart, who, 
in order to maintain their authority in the Commons, created new 
boroughs out of mere villages, which returned members according 
to the directions of servants of the crown. Thus Elizabeth added 
•sixty members to the House of Commons, the loyalty of petty 
* Baxter, Life, 69. 



1654. J CROMWELL'S FIRST PARLIAMENT. 333 

Cornish hamlets being especially favoured in the distribution of 
these seats. An inequality had from the first existed in the county 
representation, since counties, however unequal in size, as York- 
shire and Eutland, had always returned two members each. Ac- 
cording to the reform now made, the number of members returned 
for England and Wales was reduced from 500 to 400. The county 
members, or knights of shires, were increased to 261, Yorkshire 
returning twelve members, Essex thirteen, Warwickshire four, 
and other counties in like proportion. A large number of 
rotten boroughs, some of which contained only a few houses, 
were disfranchised, while members were given to a few rising 
places, such as Leeds, Manchester, and Halifax ; 149 members 
were returned in all for the towns and boroughs.* The county 
franchise, formerly confined to freeholders possessed of lands or 
tenements to the annual value of 40s., was extended to any resi- 
dent in the county, the capital value of whose property, real or 
personal, amounted to £200. t As the value of money now is 
one-fourth of what it was then, the constituency was not as de- 
mocratic as the present; when owners of freeholds of the annual 
value of 40s., and occupiers of property of the rateable value of 
£12, are qualified as county electors. J 

The reformed Parliament was imperial, representative of the 
three nations, thirty members being summoned to sit for Scotland, 
and thirty for Ireland. Those who had borne arms against the 
Parliament since 1641 were rendered, by the Instrument of Go- 
vernment, incapable of voting at elections for the present Parlia- 
ment or the three following triennial Parliaments. This disfran- 
chised not only the Royalists, but some of the Presbyterians, who 
had joined in Hamilton's invasion, or in that led by Prince 
Charles. The House, however, contained many Presbyterians, 
besides Republicans and others opposed to the government. 
These proceeded to debate the question whether they should 
approve the government by a single person and a Parliament ; 
in other words, to attack the Instrument of Government 

* There had been 400 members for towns, 100 for counties (p. 2). 

f After the Restoration (1660) the old system of representation was re- 
stored, and no reform was made until 1832. 

X Reform Act, 1867, by which county votes were also given to owners of 
property other than freehold of the annual value of £o ; and borough votes 
to all ratepaying householders, and even to lodgers who have occupied for a 
year rooms of the annual value of ±110. 



•g34 FIE ST PAELIAMENT DISSOLVED. [peotect. 

by authority of which they, as well as the protector, ruled. More 
than a week had been spent upon this subject of debate, when 
Cromwell summoned the members to the Painted Chamber, and 
there informed them that he was in possession of the government 
by a good right from God and man ; by Divine right, because it 
was by his hand that God had saved the nation ; by human right, 
because they had come to sit there in virtue of his writ, and, 
therefore, could not call in question the authority by which the 
Parliament itself existed. They would now, before again entering 
the House, be required to sign their names to an engagement to 
be true and faithful to the lord protector and Commonwealth, 
and not to propose or consent to any alteration of the govern- 
ment as it was settled in one person and a Parliament 
(Sept. 12th, 1654). Though this engagement eliminated a 
hundred members who refused to sign it and so lost their 
seats, the enemies of the government still maintained a ma- 
jority in the House, which did not offer the protector either 
the nioney bills necessary for the support of the arm3 r , or any 
others for his consent. Accordingly, as soon as five months were 
spent, the length of session required by the Instrument of Govern- 
ment, Cromwell did not delay a day in dissolving the Parliament. 
" Divisions and discontent," he told the members, " which, like 
briars and thorns, had nourished themselves under their shadow, 
had been more multiplied during the five months they had sat 
than in some years before. ... I bless God I have been inured 
to difficulties, and I never found God failing when I trusted in 
Him. I can laugh and sing in my heart when I speak of these 
things to you or elsewhere. And though some may think it is an 
hard thing to raise money without Parliamentary authority upon 
this nation, yet I have another argument to the good people of this 
nation, if they would be safe, and yet have no better principle — 
whether they prefer the having of their will, though it be their 
destruction, rather than comply with things of necessity ? That 
will excuse me. But I should wrong my native country to sup- 
pose this" (Jan. 22nd, 1655). 

The divisions existing between the Parliament and the protector 
gave courage to his enemies to plot murder and insurrection, whe- 
ther these were Eoyalists on the one hand, or Levellers and Fifth- 
Monarchists on the other. The best of the Republicans— men such 
as Vane, Ludlow, and Hutchinson— refused to join in conspira- 



1654. J KOYALIST EISINGS. 335 

cies of which the success was doubtful, while they scorned the 
thought of resorting to assassination as a means to overthrow the 
government. Several conspiracies, however, were formed in Eng- 
land and Scotland, but were nipped in the bud by the timely 
seizure and imprisonment of the ringleaders. "Wildman, a Level- 
ler, and member of the late Parliament, was seized sitting at his 
table, and dictating a declaration against 'The tyrant, Oliver 
Cromwell, Esq.' Several plots were laid against the protector's 
life, ' little fiddling things,' as he once called them. In March 
partial risings of the Royalists took place in several counties. 
A body of 200 Cavaliers rode into Salisbury in the middle 
of the night, and seized the persons of the judges who had come 
to hold the assizes (10th March, 1655). The townspeople, how- 
ever, refused to compromise themselves by offering the insurgents 
any support. The town crier, being ordered by Penruddock, 
their leader, to proclaim Charles Stuart at the Market Cross, 
" made ' O Yes ' (Oyez) four times, but still, when Penruddock 
said, ' Charles the Second, king,' he stopped, though much 
beaten by them, and said he could not say that word, though 
they should call for faggots and burn him presently." Within 
twenty-four hours of their arrival, the Cavaliers were obliged 
to ride hastily out of the town, in c^der to avoid meeting the 
protector's troops. The insurgents were overtaken and dispersed, 
and above fifty taken prisoners, among whom were their 
leaders, Penruddock and Grove. The prisoners were regularly 
tried by jury for treason. Of those condemned, seventeen were 
executed ; others transported to the Barbadoes, and their ser- 
vices as slaves sold to the English planters there for a period of 
five years.* No Republicans or Levellers were brought to trial. 
Cromwell, who had intimated not obscurely to his Parliament 
that rather than suffer his government to be overturned he would 
resort to arbitrary measures, now carried his threat into execution, 
with the determination to keep up the army and with it maintain 
order at any cost. He continued to enforce ordinances made in 
council, which the Instrument of Government had only granted 

* This early form of transportation or penal servitude was first introduced 
by the Long Parliament, who applied it to some of the Scotch prisoners 
taken after the defeat of Hamilton at Warrington in 1648. Such treatment 
seems quite indefensible when applied to prisoners of war: insurgents are 
even now liable to the treatment of convicts, but the substitution of private 
masters instead of the State is an outrage to sentiment. 



336 AEBITEAEY GOVERNMENT. Lmoteox 

him power of making until the meeting of his first Parliament, 
Thus he passed an ordinance for the continuance of the monthly 
assessment of £60,000 for the support of the army. Of his sole 
authority he imposed on Eoyalists, whose estates exceeded the 
worth of £100 per annum, an income tax of ten per cent., and 
this whether they had been engaged in the late risings or not. 
He divided England into eleven districts, over each of which he 
placed in command a major-general, with power to call out the 
county militia for the enforcement of his orders (Aug., 1655). 
Major- These major-generals were, in fact, military governors, 

Generals. w ] 10 encroached on the duties of the ordinary justices 
of the peace and other civil authorities, and acted at once as 
judges and police officers. There was no appeal from their de- 
cisions, except to the protector and his council. They received 
instructions to suppress tumults and rebellion, to see that 
Papists and Eoyalists had no arms in their possession, to collect 
the income-tax imposed upon Eoyalists, to arrest and imprison 
suspected persons, to aid in ejecting scandalous ministers, to 
suppress horse races, cock-fightings, bear-baitings, and other 
sports at which the disaffected collected. 

Some of the chief men in the army, as Fleetwood, Skippon, 
and Desborough, held office as major-generals. They do not 
seem to have abused the power entrusted to them, though no 
doubt they carried out Cromwell's instructions to the full, 
exacted the last penny of the income tax from Eoyalists, and 
required Eoyalist justices of the peace, mayors, and sheriffs, to 
make way for men friendly to the government. A severe ordi- 
nance was issued, forbidding any to take into their families 
ejected Episcopalian ministers as chaplains or school-masters 
(Jan., 1656). Many Eoyalists and Republicans, known malcon- 
tents, were imprisoned, or forced to confine themselves to one 
place of abode. The movements of both Vane and Ludlow were 
at one time or another thus placed under restraint. An order of 
council was issued that no paper should be published without 
permission from the Secretary of State ; and all but two, out of 
<-ight, weekly papers were suppressed (Sept., 1655). 

Whether we admit, or not, the ' tyrant's plea, necessity/ we 
must not fail to mark the difference of motive that caused Charles 
and Cromwell to exercise arbitrary government. Charles im- 
posed taxes without consent of Parliament, and committed men 



1655-6.] TREATMENT OF CONSPIRATORS. 337 

illegally to prison, in order to break the spirit of the people, and 
convert a constitutional into an absolute monarchy. Cromwell 
really taxed the country for the country's good, because his own 
government was all he saw able to stand between anarchy on the 
one side and the loss of freedom of conscience on the other. 
History will always judge by very different standards the arbi- 
trary acts that break up an existing order and those which 
restore order out of disorder. The king who tries to make slaves- 
of a free people has none of the excuses of one on whose shoulders 
has fallen the herculean task of remaking a nation out of the 
chaos of a revolution. Cromwell was marked out as the pilot 
to steer the storm-tossed State into port, and nothing would 
induce him to quit the helm. " I can sooner be willing," he 
said, " to be rolled into my grave and buried in infamy than I 
can give my consent unto [it]." 

Hence, unlike Charles, Cromwell never resorted to arbitrary 
measures, until either his government or his life were in real 
danger, and then he was never cruel ; the imprisonments he 
inflicted were generally short ; he never sought the ruin of his 
adversary. He counselled his son. Henry, when command- 
ing in Ireland, not to let the discontent of some make too 
much impression upon him. " Time and patience may work 
them to a better frame of spirit, and bring them to see that 
which for the present seems to be hid from them ; especially if 
they shall see your moderation and love towards them, if the}' 
are found in other ways towards you." 

Tyrants who have been raised by an army to a throne have 
often proved themselves the most suspicious of mankind. But 
the protector's nature remained as generous and trustful as it 
had been in his earlier years, when none grudged the quiet 
country gentleman his life. He only took a few necessary pre- 
cautions for his safety by looking closely after his guards, and 
letting a report spread that he wore a mail coat under his clothes. 
So far, indeed, did he seem removed from personal feelings of fear 
and revenge, that he would pass over insulting words and even 
outbursts of deadly hatred, as though they concerned him not, so 
long as he preserved his power intact. When he imprisoned men 
without showing legal cause, he had good reason to suspect their 
intentions. Republicans, Levellers, Anabaptists, even those of 
them who sought his life, he always looked upon as friends 

22 



338 COMPARATIVE CLEMENCY. [protect. 

estranged rather than as enemies. A lesser man might have 
freed himself from the charge of tyranny, and at the same time 
made his own life more secure, by bringing traitors to the gallows, 
for there is little doubt Cromwell had evidence enough if 
he had chosen to use it. A true tyrant, still more one who 
was conscious he had deserted the cause to which he was first 
engaged, would have been slow to deal leniently with old Eepub- 
lican friends, whose conduct might have seemed as a perpetual 
reproach to his own. But of all the Levellers, Fifth-Monarch- 
ists, or Anabaptists, who conspired against the protector's life 
or government, only one suffered by the hand of the execu- 
tioner.* Sexby, a Leveller, died in prison, but he was a 
fanatic who plotted with Eoyalists to take the protector's life, 
and sent to England some "strange engines to that pur- 
pose."! Though towards Eoyalists less mercy was shown, they 
admitted themselves that their condition was greatly improved 
from the time of the dissolution of the Long Parliament. A 
committee of officers restored to their Eoyalist owners, estates 
unjustly sequestered, and inflicted condign punishment on false 
informers. J In matters of life and death too, Eoyalists re- 
ceived far more lenient treatment. Not nearly so many Eoyalist 

* The contrast of Bonaparte's conduct may enable us to appreciate more 
fully Cromwell's magnanimity. Bonaparte bad also for enemies two im- 
placable parties, Jacobins and Eoyalists. As be was driving to the opera an 
attempt was made to kill bim by blowing up a barrel of gunpowder close 
to his_ carriage. The plot bad been laid by tbe Eoyalists, and two of tbe 
assassins were brought before a court of justice, condemned, and executed. 
Bonaparte, however, though he knew the contrary, affected to believe that 
the Jacobins were guilty, five of whom lost their lives by sentence of a 
military commission, while 300 others were transported. Cromwell's govern- 
ment by major-generals for a year and a half, may again be contrasted 
favourably with the present French government, which keeps half France 
under martial law for more than three years because of a revolt of the 
capital. 

*t* Clarendon State Papers, iii. 311. 

£ " On Saturday last, Faulkener, one of the Lord Craven's accusers, was 
condemned to the pillory for perjury ; it is believed his lordship will have 
his estates cleared and the purchaser to be satisfied with other lands ; here 
be many others that hope for right in the like case ; some interpret this 
favour (for here it is a great one to have justice) as an inclination to oblige 
the royal party, but such plausible things could never be more seasonable" 
(27th May, 1653). " The committee of officers have restored several parties 
to their estates with reparation for what is past. Sir John Stowel is out of 
prison upon bail, and many such plausible things are done to stroke the poor 
easy Cavalier" (3rd June, 1653).— Eoyalist letters of intelligence anion <* 
MS. Clar. Papers in Bodleian. 



1655—6.] IMPARTIAL JUSTICE. 339 

conspirators were put to death by Cromwell as by the Republi- 
cans, and a High Court of Justice, which he occasionally erected, 
never convicted any but undoubted traitors.* 

Cromwell's government, even whilst arbitrary, was in many 
respects conciliatory. No oaths of allegiance were required to be 
taken to it, and none but those who conspired against it were 
shut out from holding office in the State. The protector, in fact, 
endeavoured to obtain for the service of his country the most 
able of her sons without inquiring too closely into their political 
-antecedents. The Kepublican, Admiral Blake, still remained in 
command of the fleet. Milton continued in the post of foreign 
secretary. Lockhart, the English ambassador in France, was a 
Eoyalist and a Scotchman. The judges appointed by Cromwell 
were not partisans of his own, who might be ready to wrest 
the law to serve his will, but incorruptible men, of all parties, 
who dared administer the laws impartially, not only between 
subject and subject, but between the subject and the govern- 
ment. Sir Matthew Hale, the chief justice, refused obedience 
to the Lord Protector himself, when he would once have inter- 
fered in the trial of a criminal case ; and there is no doubt that 
the men appointed to office by Cromwell and the Republicans 
introduced many beneficial reforms into the administration of the 
law.f 

It was possible for the judges gradually to modify the proce- 
dure of the courts, where it was dependent only upon custom 
and precedent ; but for a thorough reform of the law itself, the 
interference of the legislature was necessary. Cromwell was 
desirous of reforming the anomalies and harshness of the criminal 
code, as well as the dilatoriness and expense of the civil code. 
The object of punishment is the protection cf society, the 
primary object being to deter men from committing criminal acts, 

* Godwin, iv. 34, 91, 357. 

f " The practice of questioning juries for their verdicts, the exclusion of 
oral testimony" [as was the case in Raleigh's trial, see p. 88], £> and the use of 
torture, were wholly swept away during the ten years which succeeded the 
death of Charles I., and were never afterwards revived. Just and rational 
principles of evidence, sound views of the object of penal laws, and of the 
proper means of enforcing them, first sprang up during the early years of 
the Commonwealth. Under the wise and moderate superintendence of 
such minds as Hale, Whitelock, and Rolle, our judicial institutions under- 
went a total revision and reform." — Jardine's Heading on the Use cf 
Torture. 

90 Q 



3&) CEIMINAL CODE. [protect, 

the secondary object to act beneficially on opinion, and so 
remove the motives to criminal acts. To deter criminals, the 
main requirement is not that the penalty should be terrible, but 
that it should be inevitable. To act beneficially on opinion, it is 
necessary that the punishment should be approved as just by the 
general judgment of the community. A criminal code that lags 
behind the humanity of the age to which it belongs not only fails in 
acting on opinion, but often defeats its primary end as a deterrent. 
The criminal either escapes unpunished, because his jury, con- 
trary to evidence, refuses to find a verdict of guilty ; or if he 
does go to the gallows, he dies an object of sympathy rather than 
of abhorrence. "There are wicked and abominable laws," 
Cromwell said to his first Parliament, "which it will be in 
your power to alter. To hang a man for six-and-eightpence, 
and I know not what ; to hang for a trifle, and acquit murder 
— is in the ministration of the law, through the ill-framing 
of it. I have known in my experience abominable murders 
acquitted. And to see men lose their lives for petty matters, 
this is a thing God will reckon for. And I wish it may not 
lie upon this nation a day longer than you have an oppor- 
tunity to give a remedy, and I hope I shall cheerfully join 
with you in it." To effect a reform of the law, it was necessary 
to secure the co-operation of the lawyers. Lawyers, however, were 
averse to changes which were often hurtful to their pecuniary 
interests, or contrary to the prejudices of their profession. It 
was not without difficulty that they were brought to submit to 
the protector's Ordinance for the Eeform of Chancery. A rule 
of but five years was too short to carry out reforms in the face 
of a most influential profession, which was strongly represented 
in Parliament. " The sons of Zeruiah," as Cromwell once said, 
" were too strong for him." Had his life lasted twenty years in- 
stead of five, he might have done as great wonders as a social 
reformer and legislator as he did as a ruler and administrator. 

Nor were his interests merely practical. Though not learned 
himself, Cromwell both honoured and rewarded learning in 
others. He asked one Eoyalist, a celebrated scholar, Meric 
Casaubon, to write an impartial history of the civil war ; to 
the Eoyalist philosopher, Hobbes, was offered the post of secre- 
tary in his household ; he put men of ability at the head of the 
universities, and founded a new university at Durham. 



1655—6.] RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. 341 

Though the protector always kept up fitting state as ruler of 
England, his court at Whitehall was neither luxurious nor extra- 
vagant. His very enemies confessed "he had much natural 
greatness, and well became the place he had usurped." Nor did 
foreign ambassadors ever find him less than the peer of kings in 
the dignity of his bearing or the manner of their entertainment. 
Equal, however, to every occasion, the protector could unbend 
at times. " He would sometimes," says one of his councillors, 
" be very cheerful with us, and laying aside his greatness, he 
would be exceeding familiar with us, and by way of diversion, 
would make verses with us, and every one must try his fancy ; 
he commonly called for tobacco, pipes, and a candle, and would 
now and then take tobacco himself ; then he would fall again to 
his serious business." 

Cromwell treated religious opponents in the same liberal spirit 
as political. But for the intolerance of the people, he would 
have allowed Catholics the public exercise of their worship. 
At one time he even formed a project of allowing a Catholic 
bishop to reside in England, and preside over the English Catho- 
lics. The severe ordinance he framed at one time against Epis- 
copalians was only enforced as long as they were engaged in 
fomenting insurrection. Episcopalians preached publicly in 
London and in the country, and both Catholics and Epis- 
copalians were left unmolested in their private worship.* No 
oath of fidelity to the government was imposed upon ministers ; 
and the church was made wide enough to admit to her livings 
Presbyterians, Independents, and Anabaptists. " If a man of 
one form," said Cromwell, addressing one of his Parliaments, 
" will be trampling upon the heels of another form, I will not 
suffer it in him. But God give us hearts and spirits to keep 
things equal. Which truly I must profess to you hath been my 
temper. I have had some boxes and rebukes on the one hand 
and on the other ; some censuring me for Presbytery, others as 
an inletter to all the sects and heresies of the nation. I have 
borne my reproach, but I have, through God's mercy, not been 
unhappy in hindering any one religion to impose upon another. + 
„ . . Here is a great deal of truth among professors, but very 

* Guizot, Hist, de Rep., 643 ; Weal, 74, 124 ; Evelyn's Diary, passim, 
f Carl., iii. 182. 



342 TREATMENT OF QUAKERS. [protect. 

little mercy. When we are brought into the right way, we shall 
be merciful as well as orthodox, arid we know who it is that saith, 
' If a man could speak with the tongues of men and angels, and 
yet want that, he is but sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.' " 
The Eepublicans had passed a law for the punishment of blas- 
phemous opinions ; any person who said he was God, who taught 
that swearing, drunkenness, and murder are as holy and righteous 
as prayer, preaching, aud thanksgiving, was for the first offence 
to suffer six months' imprisonment : for the second, to abjure the 
dominions of the Commonwealth, and in case of return to suffer 
death as a felon (Aug., 1650). If the enumeration of such opinions 
shows the prevalence of strange fancies in that revolutionary time, 
their prohibition shows how little the framers had learnt of the 
distinctions between the spheres of law and of public opinion. 
Though a merciful law as compared with that passed by the 
Presbyterians,* it was not in accordance with the professed prin- 
ciples of its framers. "With a large Presbyterian element in it,. 
Cromwell's Parliament was not likely to be more tolerant than 
the Rump. The plain-spoken protector exhorted them to mode- 
ration. " What greater hypocrisy," he says, " than for those 
who were oppressed by the bishops to become the greatest 
oppressors themselves, as soon as their yoke was removed?" 
There were several sects whose doctrines gave offence, and whom 
Cromwell could with difficulty save from suffering under the 
intolerance of men whose watchword had once been ' liberty of 
The conscience.' The Quakers, for instance, were at this 

Quakers. ti me special objects of persecution. Lord Say-and-Sele, 
a suppo ter of the Independents, turned some of his tenants, 
who held Quaker opinions, out into the streets. Their peculiar 
doctrines, that it is wrong under any circumstances to go to war 
or to take an oath, excited much indignation, and they often 
brought suffering upon themselves by pressing their views out 
of season. George Fox, the founder of the sect, went into 
churches and contradicted the teaching of the ministers, into 
markets and exhorted traders to sell fairly, into inns and bade 
drunkards reform their lives. Vain enthusiasts, men half de- 
ceivers, half deceived, copied the example of Pox, and went 
about the country preaching, pretending to work miracles, and; 

* See p. 203. 



1055-6.] TREATMENT OF FANATICS. 343 

calling themselves inspired by the Spirit of God. Some dozen 
men and women believed that the Spirit of Christ dwelt 
in an old soldier called James Naylor, as it had never 
dwelt in any other man before. These walked by his side 
as he rode into Bristol, strewing garments in his path, and 
shouting, ' Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Israel.' One woman 
declared that she had been restored to life by him, after having 
been two days dead. The protector merely confined the wilder 
fanatics until they promised to keep quiet and give up working- 
miracles. But his Parliament was far less merciful, and 
but for its timely dissolution, would have passed an act shutting 
out Quakers and several other sects from toleration.* Cromwell 
wished to allow even the Jews a legal residence in the country, 
though they had been banished from England for four hundred 
years ; and a conference was held in London between some citizens, 
lawyers, and clergymen, and some Jews of Amsterdam. The 
divines, however, objected to admitting the unbelievers ; the 
citizens were divided in their opinions ; and the conference closed 
without coming to any decision on the point, t The protector 
afterwards of his own authority permitted several Jews to reside 
in London, where they built a synagogue and worshipped with- 
out molestation. In regard to toleration, indeed, Oliver's views 
were so far in advance of those generally held in his time, that 
they were treated as a subject for apology rather than for praise, 
even by friends and admirers. " It is true, his heart being tender 
to all," writes one, " especially such as were peaceable, he did 
not use that severity ordinarily towards the Quakers, or others 
of that mind, as was by some expected. But what other con- 
siderations did therein sway him to so much lenity, I cannot tell, 
neither is it fit for every one to know, much less to judge ; but 
this we know, that he was merciful to all. "J 

In Scotland, as in England, order was established under the 
protector's government ; justice fairly administered ; liberty of 
conscience ensured. Both the Eepublicans and Cromwell desired 
to incorporate the two countries under the same go- Union of 
vernment, and thus prevent a recurrence of the Scotch a ^f gcot- 
invasions of England, which had occurred twice within land - 
five years. The Eepublicans were deprived of power before they 
had carried out their purpose ; but Cromwell passed an ordinance, 
* Meal, iv. 91. + Godwin, iv. 249—300. % King's Tracts. 



344 UNION WITH SCOTLAND. [peotect. 

which was confirmed by his second Parliament, establishing the 
union of England and Scotland (April 12, 1654). This union lasted 
till the Eestoration, when there was again a separation till 
the union was finally effected in the reign of Anne when it was 
sanctioned by the consent of both nations (1707). At the time 
of the Commonwealth, the national antipathy was so strong 
that, whatever the advantages of union, the Scots would not volun- 
tarily have consented to abandon their independent government. 
Being, however, a conquered people, they were forced to submit 
to the will of their masters ; and thirty members for Scotland 
were summoned to sit in each of the protector's Parliaments. 
The executive was administered in Scotland by General Monk, 
assisted by a Council of State, of which, out of nine members' 
only two were Scotchmen. The army was gradually raised to a 
force of 20,000 men, and the country heavily taxed for its main- 
tenance. 

The union, though so much disliked by the Scots, conferred 
upon them several undoubted benefits : freedom of trade with 
England, a boon unprecedented at that time ; the abolition of 
feudal tenures, which had kept the Scotch people in a state of 
almost servile dependence upon their lords ; a pure administra- 
tion of justice ; security not only from the plundering raids of 
the Highlanders, but also from the still more destructive strife 
of factions. For under it the two hostile camps of Presbyterians 
—those that owned and those that disowned Charles' right to the 
throne— were forced to live in peace together. Pour English- 
men, assisted by three Scotchmen, were appointed to go on circuits 
and administer justice in place of the Scotch Court of Session, 
which was exceedingly corrupt. Their fairness was long remem- 
bered : " Deil thank them, a wheen (pack of) kinless loons," said 
a Scotch judge of the next century, when reminded of then- im- 
partiality. " During this period," says Burnet, himself a Scotch- 
man, " Scotland was kept in great order ; there was good justice 
done, and vice was suppressed and punished ; so that we always 
reckon on those eight years of usurpation as a time of great peace 
and prosperity/ 

The Eepublicans in the Kunip, while still in office, had passed 

Ireland. a severe law for the settlement of Ireland. They 

Settlement. ha ^ not entertained the idea of reconciling the 

Irish to English rule, regarding it as impossible that 



1653—6.] SETTLEMENT OF IKELAND. 345 

men who were Catholics and Royalists should ever give willing 
submission to a government carried on by Sectarians and Re- 
publicans. The Irish were accordingly treated as a conquered 
people. In the course of the Irish war, two and a half millions 
of acres in Ireland had been pledged to the " adventurers," who 
lent the Long Parliament money on the assurance that, when 
Ireland was subdued, they should be repaid with interest out of 
the lands forfeited by the rebels. In order to satisfy these State 
creditors, the act of settlement had dealt hard measure to Irish 
landholders. A free pardon was granted to the mass of the people, 
to husbandmen, ploughmen, labourers, artificers, and others of in- 
ferior sort, not possessed of lands or goods above the value of £10. 
All engaged in the massacre of 1641 were exempted from pardon of 
life or estate. So many, however, of the original rebels were 
either dead or undetected, that sufferers under this clause num- 
bered only about two hundred.* Those who, though not en- 
gaged in the massacre, had fought against the Parliament in the 
war that followed, were to forfeit two thirds of their estates, and 
to receive lands to the value of the remaining third in such other 
parts of the country as the government should think fit to ap- 
point. Those who had not favoured the cause of the Parliament 
were to forfeit one third of their estates, and to be assigned lands 
elsewhere to the value of the remaining two-thirds (Aug., 1652). 
The barren and boggy province of Connaught, laid desolate by 
the late war, was reserved for division amongst these ejected Irish 
landowners. In this province, they would have the Shannon 
as a barrier to prevent their attacking the newcomers, and 
settled there it was not likely that they could ever succeed 
again in overpowering the Protestant population. The lands 
thus taken from the Irish were granted to the 'adventurers,' 
and to soldiers who had fought in Ireland, and whose pay was 
in arrears (1653). A strong Protestant army, maintained in 
the country, compelled submission. Fleetwood, commander-in- 
chief of the forces in Ireland, Ludlow, lieutenant-general of 
the horse, and three other officers were appointed by the Re- 
publicans as commissioners to conduct the government. Their 
government was distinguished by its severity ; they refused 
to allow Catholics the exercise of their worship in public or 
in private, and forbade them to live in a garrison town, to possess 
* Godwin, iv. 433. 



346 CEOM WELL'S IEISH POLICY. [r E0TECT 

arms, or to travel without a licence. Priests and Jesuits found 
in the country were declared traitors, and the celebration of the 
mass was made a capital offence. This persecution is said to 
have been maintained for two years (1653-4). 

The jDrotector summoned thirty members for Ireland, to sit 
in each of his Parliaments. Fleetwood returned to England in 
1655, and the government was entrusted by Cromwell to his 
second son, Henry, first as commander-in-chief of the army, and 
afterwards as Lord Deputy. The young man inherited some of 
his father's capacity for government, and Ireland prospered under 
Lis administration. He treated the Irish more mercifully than 
the Eepublican commissioners, and even saved some families from 
the terrible transportation into Connaught. He treated all re- 
ligious parties with moderation, and refrained from persecuting 
Catholics. Absolute freedom of trade was granted, and all 
manufactures were encouraged, so that the country soon assumed 
a flourishing aspect, in spite of the desolation caused by the late 
war. " There were many buildings," says the Royalist Hyde, 
" raised for beauty as well as use, orderly and regular plantations 
of trees and fences, and enclosures raised throughout the king- 
dom, purchases made by one from another at very valuable rates, 
and jointures made upon marriages, and all other conveyances 
and settlements, executed as in a kingdom at peace within itself, 
and where no doubt could be made of the validity of titles." 



CHAPTER XV. 

TIIE LAST TWO YEARS OP THE PROTECTORATE. — 1656 1658. 

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 
Not of war only, but detractions rude, 
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, 

To peace and truth thy glorious way bast plough'd; 

And on the neck of crowned fortune proud 

Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, 
While Darwin* stream, with blood of Scots imbrued, 

And Dunbar's field, resounds thy praises loud, 

And "Worcester's laureate wreath. Yet much remains 
To conquer still ; peace hath her victories 
No less renowned than war ; new foes arise, 

Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains : 
Help us to save free conscience from the paw 
Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw. 

MlLTOJT. 

During- the year and a half that Cromwell ruled arbitrarily, 
his government took root, for whatever its faults, it at least 
assured to the country the blessings of order and peace. Royal- 
ists and Presbyterians either sullenly acquiesced in the 
change of dynasty, or at least deferred their hopes of restoring 
Charles Stuart, till after the death of the present protector. 
As soon as the need of arbitrary government was past, Cromwell 
wished his use of it to pass too. " When matters of necessity 
come," he had said to his Parliament, " then without guilt ex- 
traordinary remedies may be applied, but if necessity be pre- 
tended there is so much the more sin." He determined to meet 
a Parliament that should restore the government to a nearer 
approach to its old form, and confer upon himself the title of 
king. To secure this result he would have to stretch his prero- 
gative once more to oust the Republican opposition, but after this 
the legitimate career he longed for might be open to him. The 
Instrument of Government, which had been drawn up merely by 

* Joining the Kibble just south of Preston, the scene of battle of 17th August, 1648 



348 CEOMWELL'S SECOND PARLIAMENT. [protect 

a council of. officers, an unconstitutional authority, wanted a legal 
sanction, and in place of lasting settlement, only opened to the 
view of the nation a dreary vista of military rulers, elected by 
the will of the army. The title of protector was strange and 
unacceptable to the people generally, nor did it conciliate the 
Republicans, who called a protector 

' A stately tiling, 
That confesseth itself but the ape of a king.'* 

Timid and time-serving supporters of Cromwell's government 
remembered that by a statute of Henry VII., all persons adhering 
to the king de facto were pronounced guiltless of treason. The pro- 
tector, therefore, by receiving from a Parliament the title of king, 
might hope to calm the fears of many of his friends, to gratify the 
monarchical prejudices of the people, and even to establish a con- 
stitutional monarchy in England under kings of his own house. 
To ensure meeting an assembly favourable to his interests, he 
did not hesitate to resort to an arbitrary stretch of power. The 
Instrument of Government authorized the protector and council 
to make a scrutiny of the returns of elections, and examine 
whether persons returned were qualified to sit. This clause was 
intended as a precaution against the admission of any that had 
borne arms against the Parliament since 1641, and all members 
of Cromwell's first Parliament had according^ received tickets 
from the council, certifying that they were duly returned. Par- 
liament met on the 17th of December ; without any legal 
ground of exclusion, a hundred members, Republicans or other 
opponents of the government, were for the time refused tickets 
by the council. "When they complained to the Parliament, Crom- 
well's friends carried a vote by 125 to 29, that they must apply 
to the council for redress. The residue did not employ them- 
selves very profitably at first. For the first three months of its 
sitting, the Parliament was almost solely engaged in debating 
.upon the punishment due to James Naylor, the man who had 
ridden into Bristol, and was worshipped by his followers as 
divine. According to statute law, this fanatic could only have 
been imprisoned for six months, and in case of a second offence, 
banished from the dominions of the Commonwealth. But the 
Commons, imitating the refinements of the Star Chamber, sen- 

* See the lines found among Col. Overton s papers, quoted in G-ui^ot, ii. vi. 



1656—7.] PETITION AND ADVICE. 349 

tenced him to be six times whipped, put twice in the pillory, 
have his tongue bored, his forehead branded, and then to be 
kept in solitary confinement on short rations. This was 
dealing hard measure to one at the worst half fool, half 
knave, and gave all liberally or mercifully minded men cause 
to regret the time when the House of Commons did not resolve 
itself into a court of justice and inflict arbitrary punishment at 
pleasure. The protector sent a letter to the House, desiring to be 
informed of the grounds of its proceedings. The question raised 
long debates, which resulted in the drawing up of a new instru- 
ment of government, called the Petition and Advice. Petition and 
Cromwell was to bear the title of king and to appoint Advice. 
his successor to the throne. New Parliaments were to be sum- 
moned once every three years, and were to be composed as 
formerly of two Houses. The Upper House was to consist of 
not more than 70 or less than 40 persons, who were to be named 
by the king. Members of council and officers of State were to 
be approved by Parliament. The chief magistrate was presum- 
ably allowed a negative voice on bills, as no clause was introduced 
to deprive him of a power hitherto always exercised by English 
monarchs. The command of the Army and Navy was to rest with 
the chief magistrate, with consent of Parliament. Thus this 
:iew instrument restored the ancient monarchy with some of those 
checks which the Long Parliament had sought to impose upon 
Charles I. The protector, who intended to govern in accordance 
with the articles of the Petition and Advice, encouraged his friends 
in the Parliament, to abolish both the office of major-general and 
the income tax of ten per cent, upon Eoyalists. The major-generals, 
however, to whom arbitrary government was not so distasteful 
as to their chief, took offence at their removal from office, and 
displayed their ill-will and jealousy by opposing the Petition 
and Advice in the Commons' House, and especially the first 
clause, which conferred on the chief magistrate the title of king. 
Their motives may have been selfish ; they may have disliked to 
see their fellow-soldier raised so far above themselves, when 
before any might have entertained a hope of succeeding, Oliver 
in the office of Lord Protector. But the ground they publicly 
put forward was their attachment to the Eepublican ideal. Their 
feeling was shared by the army, and a deputation of a hundred 
officers waited upon the general, to pray him not to accept the 



3 50 TITLE OF KING REFUSED. [protect. 

title of king. The protector replied in words to the following 
effect : ' that the title king, a feather in a hat, is as little valu- 
able to him as to them. But the fact is, they and he have not 
.succeeded in settling the nation hitherto, by the schemes they 
clamoured for. That the nation is tired of major-generalcies, of 
uncertain arbitrary ways. That the original instrument of 
government does need mending in some points. That a House 
of Lords, or other check upon the arbitrary tendencies of a single 
House of Parliament, may be of real use ; see what they, by 
their own mere vote and will, I having no power to check them, 
have done with James Naylor : may it not be any one's case, 
some other day ?'* The officers agreed to withdraw their oppo- 
sition to the Petition and Advice with the exception of the first 
clause. But in the House, councillors, lawyers, and other civi- 
lians, outnumbered the army men, and the insertion of the title 
was carried by 123 against 62 votes (29th March). Cromwell, 
however, dared not accept a crown at the risk of offending the 
army. After six weeks' delay, during which he vainly sought to 
overcome the prejudices of officers and soldiers, he informed the 
Parliament, that though he approved of all the other articles of 
the new instrument, he could not undertake the government 
with the title of king. Accordingly it was agreed that while 
retaining the title of protector, he should exercise the powers 
vested in the chief magistrate by the Petition and Advice ; and 
thus virtually become King of England in all but name (25th May). 
Though the union now existing between Cromwell and his 
Parliament was a great discouragement to insurrection, still 
Royalist exiles, and fanatical Levellers, continued to conspire 
against the government. Their hopes were cheered by a promise 
of aid from a new quarter. As soon as the protector's foreign 
policy was declared, and there was no doubt that he would unite 
with Prance against Spain, the Spaniards promised to assist 
Charles Stuart with a body of 6000 men, as soon as any English 
port declared in his favour (April). An invasion had been planned 
for the preceding winter (1G56-7). But the Royalists and Presby- 
terians refused to rise, before Charles had actually landed in the 
country ; the Spaniards were found readier at promises than at 
performance, while Royalist exiles and Levellers, in spite of 
their common desire to overthrow the government, were suspicious 
* Abridged from Burton in Carl., iii, 217. 



1657.] SYKDERCOMB'S PLOT. 351 

of one another's final intentions. Thus this grand political com- 
bination resulted merely in another attempt at assassination. 
Syndercomb, an old quarter-master, was supplied with J1600 
from Spain, with which he engaged the services first of another 
old soldier, and then of one of Cromwell's life-guardsmen. These 
agreed to fire Whitehall, and kill his highness in the tumult 
that would follow. One evening after a public service, there 
was left upon the floor of the chapel at "Whitehall, a basket, filled 
with combustible matter, to which were attached two pieces of 
lighted match, intended to serve as a train, which should fire it 
about midnight. The sentinel, however, smelling fire, discovered 
basket and train, and the guardsman confessed the whole plot 
(March, 1657). Syndercomb, who was tried by jury and convicted 
of treason, poisoned himself in prison to escape the execution of 
his sentence. On this the Leveller, Sexby, wrote a pamphlet en- 
titled 'Killing no Murder,' which compared Synder- 'Killing no 
comb to Brutus, and justified all attempts to 'cut off' Murder.* 
the protector (May). The Eoyalist exiles approved of the 
treatise. " It is only," wrote Hyde, " to show the lawfulness 
and conveniency that he be presently killed."* 

There was, indeed, no hope for the Eoyalists except in Crom- 
well's death. His government was now believed at home and 
abroad to be securely established for his life. His authority had 
been bestowed upon him by a Parliament in place of a council of 
officers. Though he still bore the title of Lord Protector, he pos- 
sessed regal power, and was addressed in the same language and 
style as those employed to sovereign princes. He had parted on 
good terms with his Parliament, which, before its prorogation on 
the 26th of June, had granted him supplies of money, besides the 
confirmation of the ordinances he had made in council. Eoyalists 
dared not rise. His worst enemies could only shame their own 
cause by making vain attempts at assassination. Nor were his 
triumphs confined to his home government ; abroad, as well, his 
policy had been crowned with success, and he had already taught 
foreigners to court the friendship and dread the enmity of 
England. " Your general," said Christina, Queen of Sweden, to 
the English ambassador, " hath done the greatest things of any 
man in the world. I have as great a respect and honour for him 

* Clarendon State Papers, iii. 313. 



352 FOKEIGN POLICY. [protect. 

as for any man alive, and I pray let hini know as muck from 
me." Though Cromwell was not regarded by most princes with 
as much favour as he was by the daughter of the great Gustavus, 
they held the same opinion of his abilities, and dreaded the con- 
sequences of his ambition. Even before the expulsion of the 
Long Parliament, Louis XIV. was frightened by a report that 
the General of the English Commonwealth intended to land in 
France at the head of his renowned troops, and assist the French 
nobles, then in arms against his government. But Cromwell, 
unlike Napoleon, had no aspirations for the glory a mere soldier 
might earn by leading on his countrymen to foreign conquest. 
In him was nothing of the adventurer. The object of his am- 
bition at home, was to establish in England a free government in 
Church and State ; abroad, his single aim was to support the 
cause of freedom in Europe, by a coalition of progressive and 
Protestant States against the reactionary kingdoms of Spain and' 
Austria. He would have scorned to rule a people reduced to a 
slavish condition ; he would have scorned to conquer without 
some deeper motive than the mere aggrandizement of himself or 
his country. Somewhat haughtily he bade the French ambas- 
sador set his master's fears at rest. " Looking at his hair, 
which is white, General Cromwell said, that if he were ten years 
younger, there was not a king in Europe whom he could not 
make to tremble ; and that, as he had a better motive than the 
late King of Sweden, he believed himself still capable of doing 
more for the good of nations than the other ever did for his own 
ambition.''* 

Europe, no doubt, at this time opened a field for new com- 
binations. The Thirty Years' War had been long brought to a 
close by the Treaty of Westphalia (Sept., 1648). During the latter 
years of the war the religious object of the struggle had dropped 
out of sight, and the belligerents were chiefly influenced by poli- 
tical motives. The Swedes fought to gain a footing on the south- 
ern shores of the Baltic. The French from the first had assisted 
Protestants against the emperor, in order to extend their own ter- 
ritories at the expense of Germany. The Catholic princes of the 
German empire had become more eager to maintain their poli- 
tical rights against the increased power of the emperor, than to 
eradicate Protestant heresy. By the conditions of the Treaty. 
* Guizot, i 418 ; Forster, Biog. Essays 



1654—7.] FRANCE AND SPAIN. 353 

of Westphalia, Protestant princes of the empire were to be put 
on an equality with Catholic; Protestant subjects of Catholic 
princes, Catholic subjects of Protestant princes, were to enjoy 
any religious immunities they possessed before the war began ; 
part of the Lower Palatinate was to be restored to Charles Louis, 
the brother of Rupert and Maurice, and eldest son of the unfor- 
tunate Elector Palatine, who married the sister of Charles 1. 
Though the German war was over, the struggle between France 
and Spain was continued with great animosity, each country 
striving to crush her rival, and become the first power in Europe. 
Both Louis XIV. and Philip IV. of Spain were bidding for 
the protector's support. Spain offered the possession of Calais, 
when taken from France ; France, the possession of Dunkirk 
when taken from Spain (1655). Cromwell determined to 
ally himself with France against Spain. France, though a 
Catholic country, did not adopt a Catholic policy abroad, while 
at home she tolerated Huguenots, and did not suffer her progress 
to be impeded by a blind submission to the Papacy. With Spain, 
on the other hand, collision was almost inevitable. For while 
she aspired to the leadership of Europe, her principles were in 
direct antagonism to all the new ideas, religious or political, that 
after a century of strife had at last forced their way into the 
hearts and minds of men. With the exclusion of Protes- 
tantism she shut ail free life out of her dominions ; and the 
Spaniards were recognized as the most fanatical nation in Europe, 
burners of heretics, supporters of the pope and the Inquisition, 
the declared enemies of freedom of conscience. It was in the 
West Indies that the obstructive policy of Spain came most into 
collision with the interests of England. Her kings based their 
claims to the possession of two continents on the bull of Pope 
Alexander VL, who in 1493 had granted them all lands they should 
discover from pole to pole, at the distance of a hundred leagues 
west from the Azores and Cape Verd Islands. On the strength of 
this bull they held that the discovery of an island gave them the 
right to the group, the discovery of a headland the right to a 
continent. Though this monstrous claim had quite broken down 
as far as the North American continent was concerned, the 
Spaniards, still recognizing "no peace beyond the line," en- 
deavoured to shut all Europeans but themselves out of any share 
in the trade or colonization of at least the southern half of 

23 



354 BLAKE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. [protect 

the New World. They had imprisoned and murdered English 
traders, and had already exterminated one French and English 
colony at St. Kitts (1629), and two English settlements, one at 
Tortuga (1637), another at Santa Cruz (1650). Accordingly, when 
Spain sought an alliance, the protector required satisfaction for the 
blood of both the Eepublican envoy, Ascham,* and other murdered 
Englishmen ; and demanded liberty of trade to the "West Indies, 
and permission for English merchants and sailors to use their 
Bibles in any part of the Spanish dominions, unmolested by the 
Inquisition. "But/' said Cromwell, addressing his second Par- 
liament, " there is not liberty of conscience to be had ; neither is 
there satisfaction for injuries, nor for blood. When these two 
things were desired, the ambassador told us, e It was to ask his 
master's two eyes ;' to ask both his eyes, asking these things of 
him !"f Nor was Cromwell's disdain expressed in words only. 
Two large fleets were fitted out by his orders, without any special 
purpose being assigned for them. The one sailed under Blake to 
the Mediterranean, with instructions to obtain redress from any 
nation bordering on that sea, that had committed injuries upon 
the English (Oct., 1654). This fleet touched other offenders but 
left Spain alone, for the present, as war had not yet been de- 
clared. The Duke of Tuscany paid ,£60,000 damages. The Dey 
of Algiers agreed to allow English captives to be ransomed. 
"The Algiers men-of-war," says a paper of the time,$ "are 
become associates with the English ; they take Sallee ships 
and others that have any English in them, and bring them to 
General Blake, who at this very instant rides triumphant in the 
Levant." The Governor of Tunis refused satisfaction. " Here are 
our castles," he said, " do what you can : do you think we fear the 
show of your fleet ?" Blake replied by shattering the castles with 
two hours' bombardment, and then burning nine ships of war in the 
harbour. This example had its effect, and at Tripoli his demands 
obtained immediate compliance. § The second fleet, consisting of 
thirty vessels, with 4000 troops on board, was despatched to the 
West Indies. On opening their instructions at Barbadoes, the 
commanders, Admiral Penn and General Venables, found they 
were to surprise the two important islands of St. Domingo and 
Cuba. Though war with Spain had not yet been declared, there 

* See p. 278. + Carl., iii. 164. J E11 iS; Orig. Letters, 2nd series iii. 378. 
§ Heath, 692 ; Thurloe, iii. 413. 



1654—7.] CONQUEST OF JAMAICA. 355 

was no breach of faith, as whatever the relations of the two 
governments at home, no peace was recognized beyond the line. 
Penn and Venables sailed first, as directed by the instructions, to 
the former island. But instead of boldly entering the harbour 
of the capital, St. Domingo, they landed the troops at a point 
forty miles distant, thus giving the Spaniards time to prepare for 
defence (April 14, 1655). It was a fatal error, and a period of 
terrible disaster followed. Two regiments of Oliver's old soldiers 
were engaged upon the expedition, but the troops mainly con- 
sisted of an undisciplined medley of Cavaliers, Levellers, and 
other unruly spirits from England, together with transported 
English, Scotch, and Irish Eoyalists from Barbadoes. The 
general and the admiral, the land and the sea forces, disagreed. 
There was a long march of forty miles under a burning sun. 
There was want of water and want of food. The soldiers nearly 
mutinied when forbidden to plunder, and from eating unripe 
fruits dropped down by hundreds sick and dead on their march. 
Two unsuccessful attempts were made to gain possession of the 
town. In the second the army fell into an ambuscade, when 
coming up a narrow path, flanked on either side by woods, where 
not above six could march abreast. The guns from a battery, 
aised by the Spaniards, fired right down the path ; the foot fell 
back on the horse, and the whole army was thrown into con- 
fusion ; the enemy fired from the woods on either side. " Never 
was anything so wedged as we, which made the enemy weary of 
killing."* A body of seamen at length drove the Spaniards out 
of the woods, and night ended the slaughter ; 1000 men had 
fallen. As Penn and Yenables dared not return home while they 
had only this disastrous tale to bring to the protector's ear, they 
agreed to sail for Jamaica, then in the possession of the Spaniards. 
Here their success was greater, for the colonists, about conquest of 
five hundred in number, taken by surprise, fled upon Jamaica^ 
their approach, and the island was reduced without opposition 
(May 10, 1655). In face of many obstacles offered by the climate, 
and the reckless and improvident habits of the English troops, now 
turned into colonists, Cromwell set to work to render Jamaica a 
flourishing settlement. He sent out able men as governors, 
shipped arms, provisions, and soldiers, directed the building of 
fortifications, and the planting of plantations, and, in short, laid 

* From collection of Thurloe, iii. 510. 

23—2 



356 BLAKE AT TENERIFFE. [peotect. 

the foundations of the future power of England in the West 
Indies.* 

While war was now proclaimed with Spain, a treaty of peace 
was signed between France and England, Louis XIV. agreeing 
to banish Charles Stuart and his brothers from French terri- 
tory (Oct. 24, 1655). This treaty was afterwards changed into 
League with a league, offensive and defensive (March 23, 1657), 
France. Cromwell undertaking to assist Louis with 6000 men 
in besieging Gravelines, Mardyke, and Dunkirk, on condition of 
receiving the two latter towns when reduced by the allied armies. 
By the occupation of these towns Cromwell intended to control the 
trade of the Channel, to hold the Dutch in check, who were then 
but unwilling friends, and to lessen the danger of invasion from 
any union of Royalists and Spaniards. The war opened in the 
year 1657 with another triumph by sea. During the summer 
of 1656, Blake had made a second expedition to the Mediter- 
ranean ; he was now engaged in blockading Cadiz, when he 
learnt that a fleet with bullion, from Mexico, had taken refuge in 
the bay of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe. The horse-shoe 
bay was defended by castles at the two points, and by seven forts 
round the shore, connected by lines, bristling with guns and 
manned by musketeers. Ten small vessels were moored close to 
the shore ; six large galleons farther out in the bay, their broad- 
sides towards the sea. This position the Spaniards believed un- 
assailable : they still thought that ships had no chance against 
forts. The master of a Dutch merchantman asked leave to sail 
out of the bay. "lam very sure," he said, " Blake will presently 
be amongst you." " Get you gone, if you will, and let Blake come, 
if he dares," replied the Spaniards.t The English fleet numbered 
five-and-twenty sail. A favourable wind carried them into the 
bay. They attacked forts, ships, and galleons at once. After 
four hours' fighting the forts were silenced, and all the Spanish 
vessels burnt with the exception of two, which were sunk. The 
English fleet started homewards the same day. Blake was worn 
out with hard service, and before he could receive from, his 
countrymen the thanks and honours that were his due, he " who 
would never strike to any other enemy, struck his topmast to 
death," within sight of Plymouth (Aug. 7). It was said of this 
gallant seaman, that with him valour never missed its reward, 
Thurloe, v. 130; Carl., iii. 129, t Heath, 721. 



1654-8.] SUEEENDEE OF DUNKIEK. 357 

nor cowardice its punishment. Ever loyal to his country, all he 
said to his sailors when he announced a change m the govern- 
ment was " Tis not our duty to mind State affairs, but to keep 
foreigners' from fooling us." The chief of the State, indeed, was 
not the man to let foreigners "fool" us. In accordance with 
the terms of the French League, Cromwell had sent 6000 ot 
his best troops to the Netherlands. But Mazarin, instead of 
besiege* Mardyke and Dunkirk, commenced operations in the 
interior of the country, and tried to put his ally off with promises. 
"Tell him," Cromwell wrote to Lockhart, his ambassador in 
France "that to talk of what will be done next campaign are 
but parcels of words for children." " If the French," he wrote 
aeain " are going to be so false as to give us no footing on that 
side the water, we must ask for satisfaction for our expense, and 
draw off our men."* The story went that Cardinal Mazarin 
changed countenance whenever he heard the protector named, 
and was not so much afraid of the devil as he was of Oliver 
Cromwell He dared not trifle with him any longer. Mardyke 
was besieged, taken in ten days, and delivered over to the Eng- 
lish (Sept, 1657). In the spring of the following year the siege 
of Dunkirk was commenced (May, 1658). The Spaniards trie, 
to relieve the town, but were completely defeated in an engage- 
ment called the Battle of the Dunes from the sand hills among 
which it was fought ; the defeat was mainly owing to the courage 
^d disc^Hne of Oliver's troops, who won for themselves the 
name of " the Immortal Six Thousand." James Stuart 
tnT future king, commanded the left wing of the Spanish 
army, and narrowly escaped with his life. Ten jgng^ 
days after the battle Dunkirk surrendered, and the d Dun . 
French had no choice but to give over to the ^l 
EnSn ambassador the keys of a town they thought un » Ion 
vXeau (June 25).t At this time no honour was considered 
I Zl to be paid to the protector's envoys. During the 
"i o ^ D^k hk! Lord Fauconberg, lately become Cromwell's 
SO nl-la- arrived from England to meet Louis at Calais. 
The governor of the town, accompanied by many persons 
of duality came to receive him on his landing ; the kings own 
sXr Warded his door ; the king and queen's own officers 
2S nun at meal, Louis held a private interview with him 
*CarL,iii.311,313. t Thurloe, vii. 174. 



358 THE VAUDOIS PROTECTED. I protect, 

and remained uncovered the whole time. Cardinal Mazarin after 
a conference accompanied him downstairs, and saw him into his- 
coach, a courtesy he seldom paid to his own sovereign.* Catholic 
governments dared not molest the protector's subjects. An 
Englishman in Portugal was imprisoned by the Inquisition. 
Cromwell's resident at Lisbon expostulated. The king replied 
that he had no authority over the Inquisition. At their next 
interview the resident intimated, that since his majesty had no 
power over the Inquisition, the protector declared war upon it. 
The Englishman was released, t 

Cromwell had not been content with protecting his own sub- 
jects 01 lly from persecution. While his friendship was still 
being courted by both France and Spain, the Duke of Savoy had 
ordered the Vaudois living in the valleys of the Savoy Alps to 
embrace the Catholic faith, or to quit their homes within three 
days (Jan. 25, 1655). It was the depth of winter, the people were 
slow to obey, and appealed for aid and advice to the Protestant 
cantons of Switzerland. The duke, to suppress discontent, quar- 
tered soldiers in the valleys. Quarrels naturally ensued, and 
horrible barbarities were committed by the troops upon the 
inhabitants of the valley of Lucerna, whose sufferings stand com- 
memorated in Milton's noble sonnet. Cromwell appeared as^ 
then champion. For their immediate needs he started a sub- 
scription list with a donation of ,£2000. The heart of England 
was moved with sympathy : a regular canvass was made ; the' 
soldiers gave freely, and for love or shame almost everybody sub- 
scribed. An agent was sent at once, by Cromwell's orders, to 
intercede with the Duke of Savoy in their favour. Milton, by 
his directions, wrote letters to the Kings of France, Sweden, and 
Denmark, to the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, and to the 
States of Holland, appealing to their feelings of humanity to take 
measures to put an end to these cruelties. The pope's inter- 
ference was prevented by a hint that he might hear the thunder 
of English cannon off Civita Vecchia. The duke himself was an 
ally of Louis XIV., and no treaty would Cromwell sign with 
France unless the Vaudois were first protected from persecution. 
In vain Louis objected that he had no right to interfere with an 
independent prince, such as the Duke of Savoy. Finding Crom- 
well was not to be put off, he consented to mediate, and by his- 
* Thurloe, \i. 157. f Burton's Diary, Introduction. 



1655-8.] SPANISH WAK JUSTIFIABLE. 359 

[dvice the duke forgave his rebellious subjects, and confirmed 
their ancient privileges* The disgraces of Buckingham s ad- 
ministration were wiped out by this vigorous policy, and the 
position of England abroad was even higher than it was m the 
memorable days of Elizabeth. The remembrance of these suc- 
cesses made the nation smart the more when the Eestoration 
reduced her to the position of a dependent upon France. 

Foreign policv, iudeed, must be judged on other considerations 
than mere national glorification. No war can be approved that is 
undertaken merely for the sake of conquest, increased revenue, or 
personal aggrandizement. A nation, however, is often justified, 
not only in defending itself against insult and wrong, but 
entering on an aggressive war, when made either to preserve the 
liberty of other nations from foreign attack, or to wrest an ad- 
vantage which belongs by right to all mankind from the grasp of 
some single power. Cromwell's policy was, in the main, con- 
fild to these ends. It was an act of self-defence , to punish 
Spain for the wrongs she had committed upon English subjects 
it was an act of public right in the widest sense of he : term to 
deprive Spain of her unjust monopoly of trade with the West 
Ind es. On the other hand, if it is said that England gamed oo 
much by the war for her motives in carrying it on to be regarded 
7 rfectly pure, in the first place, it is natural that the most 
injured party should be chief prosecutor of wrong ; and secondly, 
Z best interests of the world were served by the protectors 
p Ucy of making England the head of Protestant ^ata , and 
upholding the cause of liberty of conscience. At least one ha 
o Western Europe was governed by tyrants, who were bent on 
lint free institutions and the free expression of opinion by 
mprisoninent, banishment, torture, and the stake Cromwell 
Z"n. all that was best and highest in the nation, declared 
eternal hostility to these powers of obstruction and reaction, and 
St the weight of England into the cause of freedom and 
fZel, r^sld her, as much by moral as by material force, to the 
foremost place amongst European nations 

^judging the policy of wars defended on public 01 mter 

nationa "rounds, three criteria may be applied ; first, has he 

S invoked been sanctioned by history as one really 

CdTngtothe highest good of mankind 1 secondly, has the 

' Guizot, ii. 629; Cavlylc, iii. 108 ; Lizard, vim. 233. 



360 NEW HOUSE FO LORDS. [protect. 

attempt a fair chance of success ? and, thirdly, is the war likely 
to entail a more than compensating weight of misery on the 
poor and struggling classes of the nation ? Cromwell's policy 
has passed two of these tests, it will be seen that it passes the 
third too. The government which effected such great results 
was carried on at comparatively a small cost. No waste, no 
corruption, was allowed, and the protector offered to lay' the 
accounts of the expenditure open to inspection. The tax for the 
support of the army and navy was reduced from .£120 000 to 
£90,000, and afterwards to £60,000 a month. 

The success of Cromwell's foreign policy, however glorious it 
rendered their country, yet failed to conciliate the Eepublicans, 
who seized the opportunity of the re-assembling of Parliament 
to display their enmity (20th Jan.). According to the terms of 
the Petition and Advice, this Parliament consisted of two 
Houses, with the second House composed, not of the old 
peers, of whom the majority were Royalists, but of lords 
newly created for the purpose by the writs of the pro- 
tector. To create lords whose title to the peerage, like that 
of Oliver's to the throne, rested not on hereditary descent but 
on superior capacity, was an overbold attempt to return by a 
short cut to the old forms of the constitution. For the unques- 
tioning, unreasoning respect given to the possessors of titles is 
of slow growth, and new creations can only pass muster, if 
few enough to be undistinguishable among the mass of the old. 
These new lords were regarded by high and low as impostors.' 
Out of sixty-three persons summoned to the protector's Upper 
House some twenty declined. Even the Earl of Warwick refused 
to attend, though a personal friend, and the grandfather of 
Cromwell's son-in-law, Mr. Rich. The old earl said that he 
could not bring himself to sit in the same assembly with Col. 
Pride, once a drayman, and Col. Hewson, once a shoemaker. 
Members of the Commons no longer had to be approved by the 
council before taking their seats, for an article of the Petition 
and Advice required that, as in former times, persons chosen to 
serve in Parliament should not be excluded from sitting, except 
by the judgment of the House of which they were mem- 
bers. Thus, any of the opponents of the government, who 
were excluded before,* were now suffered to take their seats 
* See p. 348, 



1658.] SECOND PARLIAMENT. 361 

without opposition, on swearing the requisite oath of allegiance 
to the protector. The violent Republicans, Scot, Haslerig, 
Bradshaw, and others took the oath without scruple, and then at 
once set to work to attack the government. Aided by the 
absence of many of Cromwell's ablest friends, who had been 
removed to the Upper House, they readily obtained a ma- 
jority to follow their lead. First they debated what rights 
belonged to the ' other House/ and tried to prove that the 
Petition and Advice gave it no co-ordinate power with the 
Commons in making laws and imposing taxes. They then 
proceeded to dispute with the protector's party as to the 
name they should call the ' other House,' refusing to allow 
it that of ' House of Lords.' For three weeks, while they occu- 
pied their time in these useless debates, dangers multiplied around 
the government. Charles Stuart, to whom the Dutch had sold 
twenty vessels, came to Ostend, intending, if only the Royalists 
would first attempt a rising in his behalf, to cross the Channel at 
the head of several regiments of transported Irishmen. At 
home, all the disaffected began to engage in conspiracy, or 
in trying to get up petitions hostile to the government. There 
was one petition being prepared for the restoration of the Stuarts; 
a second for the reduction of Cromwell's authority ; while the 
Republicans were secretly publishing seditious papers, and tam- 
pering with the army, in which they still possessed considerable 
influence. The protector's passion rose. The Parliament, he 
said, represented all the bad humours of the nation, and had 
become the Parliament of the Republican, Haslerig.* Though 
it had sat but fifteen days, he determined to dissolve it ; its con- 
tinuance would soon have led to anarchy and another civil war. 

"That," he said, addressing the members of the two Houses, "which 
brought me into the capacity I now stand in, was the Petition and Advice given 
me by you ; who, in reference to the ancient constitution, did draw me to ac- 
cept the place of protector. There is not a man living can say I sought it ; 
310, not a man nor woman treading upon English ground. But contemplating 
the sad condition of these nations, relieved from an intestine war into a six or 

seven years' peace, I did think the nation happy therein ! I can say in 

the presence of God — in comparison with whom we are but like poor creep- 
ing ants upon the earth — I would have been glad to have lived under my 
woodside, to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than undertaken such a 
government as this. But undertaking it by the Advice and Petition of your 

* Whitelock, 672 ; Documents in App. to Guizot, ii. 629. 



362 SECOND SESSION— DISSOLUTION. [pbotecx 

I did look that you who had offered it unto me should make it good I do 

not speak to these gentlemen" (pointing to his right band), " or lords, or what- 
soever you will call them. I speak not this to them, but to you" (gentlemen 
of the House of Commons). " You have not only disjointed yourselves, but 
the whole nation, which is in likelihood of running into more confusion in 
these fifteen or sixteen days that you have sat, than it hath been from the 
rising of the last session to this day, through the intention of devising a 
Commonwealth again, that some people might be the men that might rule 
all ! And they are endeavouring to engage the army to carry that thing. 
...These things tend to nothing else but the playing of the King o 
Scots' game, if I may so call him ; and I think myself bound before God to 
do what I can to prevent it. It hath been not only your endeavour to per- 
vert the army while you have been sitting, and to draw them to state the 
question" [i.e., to petition] " about a Commonwealth ; but some of you have 
been listing of persons, by commission of Charles Stuart, to join with any insur- 
rection that may be made. And what is like to come upon this, the enemy 
being ready to invade us, but even present blood and confusion ? And if 
this be so, I do assign it to this cause — your not consenting to what you did 
invite me by your Petition and Advice, as that which might prove the settle- 
ment of the nation. And if this be the end of your sitting, and this be 
your carriage, I think it high time that an end be put to your sitting. And 
I do dissolve this Parliament. And let God be judge between you and me" 
(4th Feb.). 

Cromwell, in his noble zeal for liberty, had really attempted an 
impossibility. Parliamentary government is perfectly feasible after 
a mere change of dynasty, but after revolutionary forces have been 
allowed to rim their course, time must solidify existing rule before 
it can be exposed to the rude dissolvents of discussion and debate. 
A real revolution decomposes a nation into numberless parties, 
each of which cannot be content with anything less than all it 
aims at, and in a free Parliament any two of these parties, how- 
ever opposite in policy, may combine for the sole purpose of de- 
stroying any intermediate party which seems to be more repre- 
sented by the ruler of the time. It was natural for intolerant 
Presbyterians to wish for the overthrow of the Puritan apostle 
of toleration, and natural for Eepublicans to hate the man who 
ruled where their oligarchy had failed ; but both showed an in- 
capacity for discerning the possibilities of the time, and for re- 
cognizing facts under forms. The alliance of these two parties 
against the protectorate could only promote the Episcopacy 
which was fatal to the one, and that absolute monarchy which 
was the true enemy of the other. 

The Parliament dissolved. Cromwell set his hand to crush ign 



1658.] CONSPIRACIES CRUSHED. 363 

the conspiracies that had sprung up around. " An old friend of 
.yours is in town," he said to Lord Broghill,* now a councillor, 
" the Marquis of Ormond ; he lodges in Drury Lane, at the Papist 
Burgeon's ; if you have a mind to save your old acquaintance, 
let him know that I am informed where he is and what he is 
doing." On this hint, Ormond, who had ventured across the Chan- 
nel in order, if possible, to concert a rising, hastened back to Hol- 
land, and told his young master that his friends were far more 
ready to promise than to perform. The Eoyalists were, in fact, 
disconcerted at the dissolution of the Parliament, on which they 
had relied as the cat's paw to wrest the protector's power from 
him. They now refused to venture property and life on what 
seemed a hopeless cast. Several conspirators were already ap- 
prehended and in prison. Five Eoyalists, engaged in various 
plots, were tried by a high court of justice, and executed as 
traitors. Officers implicated in Eepublican plots were cashiered. 
Disaffection, however, had not spread far, and the larger part of 
the army remained devoted to their general. Summoning the 
officers to Whitehall, Cromwell explained to them the cause of 
the sudden dissolution of the Parliament, and the plots and con- 
spiracies to which its sitting had given rise, and expressed a hope 
that if he should be forced to take money by arbitrary means, 
they would give him their support. " We will live and die with 
you," they shouted in reply, t 

In spite of the prejudice of the nation in favour of its old line of 
princes, the peaceful and order-loving classes were beginning to 
dread any change of government. Englishmen, even if they dis- 
liked the usurper, could hardly fail to be proud of their great 
countryman, who had humiliated the Spaniards, and raised 
England to the first place among European powers. National 
pride could not fail to be gratified by the surrender of Dunkirk, 
and the unprecedented honours paid to England's ambassadors. 
The very energy and success with which plots were suppressed 
and political enemies disconcerted, itself awoke admiration. The 
protector's dignity, his lenity, the uprightness of his administra- 
tion, forced respect even from unwilling subjects. He was now 
intending, within the course of a few montns, to summon another 
Parliament, in order to avoid resorting to arbitrary means for the 

* See p. 301. f Thuvloe, vi. 786; Guizot (Documents), ii. 610. 



S64 CEOMWELL'S LAST ILLNESS. [protect. 

raising of money. By taking means to exclude the Republicans, 
he might have obtained one friendly to his government, and 
would perhaps again have been offered the title of king. There 
was a wide-spread feeling that the 'fall of the present govern- 
ment would be the occasion of great disasters to the nation.' 
The protector's popularity had been much increased by the pos- 
session of Dunkirk ; petitions were even sent in by some coun- 
ties, desiring him to take the title of king ; and whether men 
feared or hoped, the expectation that he would be crowned was 
general throughout the country.* 

But this expectation was never to be realized. Sorrows 
fell upon Cromwell iu his own family, and these to him 
were harder to bear than the plots and machinations of his 
enemies. Death had already deprived him of two relatives — 
Eobert Bich, lately married to his youngest daughter (16th 
Feb.), and the Earl of Warwick, a firm friend to himself, 
the young man's grandfather (19th April). And now his fa- 
vourite daughter, Lady Claypole, " of excellent parts, civil to all 
persons, courteous, friendly ,"f lay ill at Hampton Court, " under 
great extremity of bodily pain," dying in fact by some terrible 
internal disease. The protector was constantly by her bedside, 
and so overpowered with grief for his dying child, that he had 
but little attention to bestow on public business. The groom of 
his bedchamber relates how " his sense of her outward misery, 
in the pains she endured, took deep impression upon him, who 
indeed was ever a most indulgent and tender father. "£ He also 
relates how the text, ' I can do all things through Christ which 
strengtheneth me,' was what restored him from despair. For 
•' this scripture," as Cromwell himself said, " did once save my 
life when my eldest son died, which went as a dagger to my 
heart, indeed it did.'§ Lady Claypole died (6th Aug.), and a fort- 
night after her death his own health, which had for some time 
past been failing, quite broke down. He was seized with a dan- 
gerous ague, and by advice of his physicians removed from 
Hampton Court to Whitehall (21st Aug.). 

Men prayed for his recovery, looking into the dark future 

* Thurloe, vii. 144; Guizot (Documents), ii. 631, 643. 
f Whitelock, 674. J King's Tracts.* 792 ; Carl., in. 368. 

§ Robert, who was buried at Felsted, in Essex, set. 19, in 1639 (Forster's 
Essays, p. 54). 



3ED Sept., 1658.] DEATH OE CROMWELL. 

with dismay at the anarchy that might ensue, when the 

SX":^ on": su W people, 

Meed for »™ who had added no little sorrow to mm, hat at 

St tim he seemed to forget hi, own family 'f.'^fj^, 

ions -' " He would frequently say, < God > good mdeed He «, 

i • ja™ v P t God will be with His people, lie was very 
S^tS P-of °the [Thursday] -££*&££ 

"f- ^o^rth^e^dtXtn^^toTnich 

wasdes^edtotakett^ame „na ^ _ ^ my 

he answered, 'It is not my oesi „u _. np >» + The next 

afternoon of that day Oliver Cromwell lay dead. 

Born the year before the eentury began, ^J^^ 8 ^ 
his sixtieth "year, when he was ^^f «\^X-5>tTell 
he bad done, the perils and pr ™ Ums ^t^Aottli term, 
have taken even more than ten years "-^ to his 
It was nearly two centuries bef o e usti ce 
memory. Strange ^.S^- could have 
deluded into believing that * e »° b1 ^ d bitter partisaus 

been the 'great wicked man that blind ami P ^ 

, • i. i w •> mere revolutionary demagogue, wuu 
depicted ; he a mere le j abroad . he a 

restorer of order at home 2 ^ ,^~es quailed at last, not at 
hard and selfish usiirpei^dmsestcartneve q ^ ^ 

theattemptsof assassins, but at the a = o j .thickest 

in£3 ; he a prince of hypocrites, who, »J*^ t0 shield the 
pi r ess of domestic anarchies,' fo-*- , half . consci ous 
poor Protestants of Piedmont,! and whose e 

Umrings w«e 0^— «-* » I ^ 

with His people ! The <*aii e e f the letters a nd 

5ST rcXir- ff* of Mr. Carlyle, 
.. .. + King's Tracts., 7M. 

J^,W; C.,1., iii. 303. § 1st ed, pub. Dec, 1845. 



366 CHARACTER OF CROMWELL. 

labours has been thus .admirably stated by the closest student of 
those times, whose testimony is the more valuable, as that of 
one who had himself held a different view of the character and 
aims of the greatest of the statesmen of the Commonwealth. 
"To collect and arrange in chronological succession, and with 
elucidatory comment, every authentic letter and speech left 
by Cromwell, was to subject him to a test from which false- 
hood could hardly escape ; and the result has been to show, we 
think, conclusively and beyond further dispute, that through all 
these speeches and letters one mind runs consistently. Whatever 
a man's former prepossessions may have been, he cannot accom- 
pany the utterer of these speeches, the writer of these letters, 
from their first page to their last, travelling with him from his 
grazing lands at St. Ives up to his protector's throne ; watching 
him in the tenderest intercourse with those dearest to him ; ob- 
serving him in affairs of State or in the ordinary business of the 
world, in offices of friendship or in conference with sovereigns 
and senates ; listening to him as he comforts a persecuted 
preacher, or threatens a persecuting prince ; and remain at last 
with any other conviction than that in all conditions and on every 
occasion Cromwell's tone is substantially the same, and that in 
the passionate fervour of his religious feeling, under its different 
and varying modifications, the true secret of his life must be 
sought, and will be found. Everywhere recognizable is the sense, 
deeply inter-penetrated with his nature and life, of spiritual 
dangers, of temporal vicissitudes, and of never-ceasing respon- 
sibility to the Eternal. ' Ever in his Great Taskmaster's , eye.' 
Unless you can believe that you have an actor continually before 
you, you must believe that this man did unquestionably recognize 
in his Bible the authentic voice of God ; and had an irremovable 
persuasion that according as, from that sacred source, he learned 
the divine law here and did it, or neglected to learn and to do 
it, infinite blessedness or infinite misery hereafter awaited him 
•for evermore."* 

* Forster, Essays, p. 33. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

RICHARD CROMWELL. — ANARCHY. — THE RESTORATION. — 
1658—1660. 

Quand on se trompe dans quelque projet pour sa fortune, ce n'est qu'un. 
<3oup d'epee dans l'eau; mais dans les entreprises de l'Etat, il n'y a pas de 
v-oup d'epee dans l'eau. — Montesquieu. 



CROMWELL, by uniting in his own person the offices of general 
and protector, had curbed the ambition of his military subordi- 
nates, while he established a government capable of winning the 
respect if not the affection of civilians. The standing army was 
a fact and a necessity against which it would have been vain for 
him to contend, but none the less was it a worm in the bud of 
the Protectorate. The retention of such an army in the hands 
of the executive must in time have proved fatal to liberty. 
It was indeed just possible that the new protector might possess 
both the ability and moderation of his great predecessor, be 
willing to rule as a constitutional king, and be able to bridle the 
army till he could dispense with it. But if these qualities were 
not found combined in the same man, the nation must expect 
shipwreck on one rock or the other. Should the new protector 
be capable without being moderate, he would use the army 
as an instrument of arbitrary power ; should he on the contrary 
be moderate without being capable, his officers might depose 
him and inaugurate a vicious succession of ephemeral military 
governments. 

The Petition and Advice gave the protector power to appoint 
his successor, and Pichard Cromwell, Oliver's eldest son, now 
took office in right of his father's deathbed nomination. The 
young man was by nature not ill fitted to play the part of a con- 



368 RICHARD CROMWELL'S PARLIAMENT. { EICHAEn ^ PA »^ 

I BUMP PABL. 

stitutional king in quiet times ; lie was unprejudiced and not 
fanatical ; his temper was mild ; he was always ready to give- 
ear to counsel. On the other hand he was deficient in those 
qualities which are most essential for a ruler in troubled times ; 
he had not the qualities which ensure obedience and respect ; he 
had no insight into character ; no firmness, no power of com- 
mand. Hence the ambition of the officers, combined with his 
own weakness, produced a period of anarchy and misgovernment 
which caused the Eestoration of our English Bourbons to be re- 
garded for a time as a blessing to the country. 

At first, indeed, the shadow of Oliver's greatness shielded his 
son ; at home no faction dared raise its head ; abroad foreign 
governments recognized the new protector, and refused to hold any 
communication with Charles Stuart. This tranquillity, however, 
lasted but a few months. The Republicans scoffed at the 
idea of a man of third-rate capacity maintaining a throne they 
had been at such pains to overthrow ; the soldiers despised a 
general who had never led them to battle. The leading officers 
M-ere no admirers of privilege, and were unwilling to allow that 
the weak and vacillating Richard gained any right to stand above 
themselves from the mere accident of birth. Fleetwood wished 
to divide the offices of protector and general and to govern as 
general in Richard's name. Lambert was believed to aspire to 
the protectorship itself. " I wish Lambert was dead," writes a 
Royalist, " there is no small danger his reputation with the army 
may thrust Dick Cromwell (who sits like an ape on horseback) 
out of the saddle, and yet not help the king into it."* The meet- 
ing of Parliament was the signal for action to both. Republicans 
and officers (Jan. 27). Vane opposed Richard's right to the 
protectorship in words winged to reach the hearts of both Re- 
publicans and soldiers. " The people of England," he said, " are 
now renowned all over the world for their great virtue and disci- 
pline ; and yet suffer an idiot without courage, without sense, 
nay, without ambition, to have dominion in a country of liberty ! 
One could bear a little with. Oliver Cromwell, though, contrary 
to his oath of fidelity to the Parliament, contrary to his duty to 
the public, contrary to the respect he owed that venerable body 
from which he received his authority, he usurped the govern- 

* Clar. State Papers, iii. 408. 



1659.J FALL OF RICHARD CROMWELL. 369 

ment. His merit was so extraordinary, that our judgments, our 
passions, might be blinded by it. He made his way to empire by 
the most illustrious actions : he had under his command an 
army that had made him a conqueror, and a people that had 
made him their general. But as for Richard Cromwell, his son, 
who is he ? what are his titles 1 We have seen that he had a 
sword by his side, but did he ever draw it 1 And, what is of 
more importance in this case, is he fit to get obedience from a 
mighty nation, who could never make a footman obey him ? yet 
we must recognize this man as our king, under the style of pro- 
tector ! — a man without birth, without courage, without conduct. 
Tor my part, I declare, sir, it shall never be said that I made such 
a man my master."* Richard, however, had many able friends in 
the House, such as the lawyers St. John and Whitelock, Thurloe 
his secretary, and other civilians and councillors, who hoped to 
establish an hereditary and constitutional monarchy under the- 
house of Cromwell. These succeeded in obtaining a majority to 
follow them. Richard's ' right ' to govern, though not his ' un- 
doubted right J was recognized, and a vote was carried to transact 
business with Oliver's lords, the ' Other House.' The officers, 
however, desiring themselves to govern the country, and jealous 
of the influence which civilians exercised in Richard's counsels, 
determined on the dissolution of the Parliament. Desborough,. 
acting as their spokesman, told the protector that if he would do 
as they proposed, the officers would take care of him, but if he- 
refused, they would do without him and leave him to shift for 
himself. Richard yielded, and thus virtually surrendered his 
authority into their hands (April 22nd). 

The struggle between the army and the civil power, which 
Oliver had closed by the establishment of the protectorate, was 
now renewed. Conscious of their own unpopularity with the 
country, instead of summoning a new Parliament, the officers re- 
stored the Rump (May 7th). At the request of this body, Richard 
retired from Whitehall and thus formally resigned his ten-months 1 
dignity (July). The officers intended to govern in the name of 
their allies ; the Rump on its part meant to rule the soldiery. But. 
in revolutionary times might is right, and the people fully under- 
standing the terms on which this extinct Parliament was revived,. 

* Guizot, Richard Cromwell, i. 54, 293. 

24 



370 THE RUMP COMES AND GOES,. [rump pari,. 

only derided its assumption of power. " Do the men in the 
Parliament House signify any more," says a pamphlet, " than 
the man that stands upon the clock in Westminster Abbey with 
the hammer in his hand, and when the iron wheel bids him 
strike, he strikes : hath it not been so between the army and 
the Parliament, as it is called ?"* During Oliver's protectorate 
the Presbyterians with all their dislike to his rule would never 
unite with " malignants " for the restoration of Charles Stuart. 
But now the dread of military tyrants overcame fears and pre- 
judices. The union of Royalists and Presbyterians, however, 
itself restored in turn a forced accord between the House and 
the officers, which for the time crushed the hopes of the rival 
coalition. The same spies whom Oliver had once employed now 
revealed to the new government the conspiracies of its opponents. 
Only in Cheshire did any considerable rising take place. Sir 
George Booth, who appeared at the head of 4000 men, was de- 
feated by Lambert and brought a prisoner to London. After this 
success the old quarrel was renewed. The officers asked that a 
standing senate should carry on the government in conjun Lion 
with a House of Commons ; and further that no commissions 
should be revoked without the consent of a court-martial. By 
the first demand they thought to place the government virtually 
in their own hands ; by the second to secure for the military a com- 
plete independence of the civil power. The House in its turn tried 
to keep the army dependent upon themselves for pay by voting 
it treason to levy money without consent of Parliament. Having 
thus as they hoped defended themselves against a sudden disso- 
lution, they proceeded to cashier Lambert, Desborough, and six 
other colonels ; and to put the command of the army in com- 
mission, by reducing Fleetwood, whom they had appointed com- 
mander-in-chief to check Booth's rising, to the position of a mere 
president of a board of seven (Oct. 12th). These votes were 
equal to a declaration of war, and the next day Lambert marched 
to Westminster at the head of 3000 soldiers. He found a guard 
of several regiments, friendly to the Republicans, already sta- 
tioned round Parliament House. These regiments refused to 
light their old comrades in arms, and fraternized with Lambert's 
men. Lenthall, the Speaker, tried in vain to recall the troops 

* King's Tracts, 



1659.] ANARCHY.— THE RUMP AGAIN. 371 

to allegiance to the House. As the nominal head of the new 
government he had lately renewed the officers' commissions. " I 
am your general," he said, " I expect your obedience." " If you 
had marched before us over Warrington Bridge" (p. 229) " we 
should have known you," was the curt reply. The will of the 
army had been expressed, and the Rump discontinued its sittings. 
The officers now conducted the government by a Committee of 
Safety, consisting of a few Republicans and a majority of their 
own party. These military rulers, however, were foiled in their 
turn. There was in Scotland another army and another com- 
mander-in-chief, whose consent had not been given to this pro- 
nunciamento. General Monk owed no allegiance to Desborouo-h 
or Fleetwood ; locked in his breast he had his scheme of a settle- 
ment for the kingdom. Setting his army in motion to march 
south, he astutely proclaimed his intention 'to stand to, and 
assert the liberty and authority of Parliament.' The Monk 
Republicans understood that he came to restore the fronfscot- 
Rurap ; the Cavaliers and Presbyterians that he came land. 
to summon a free Parliament, and thus prepare the way for the 
restoration of the Stuarts. Republicans, Presbyterians, and 
Cavaliers all took courage and refused obedience to the Com- 
mittee of Safety, and the country was practically without any 
government at all. A part of the fleet declared for the Republi- 
cans, and took custom duties of all ships passing up and down 
the Thames. The governor of Portsmouth admitted into the 
town some regiments of Republican troops. Taxes could only be 
levied by force, for all over the country the people refused to pay 
' without consent of Parliament.' The support of Presbyterian 
London at the opening of the war had enabled the Parliament to 
make war upon the king. But Presbyterian London was now 
become strongly Royalist, and its hostility threatened to be fatal 
to the ascendancy of a divided army. Fleetwood and Desborough 
tried in vain to cajole the Common Council into advancing a 
loan of £30,000. Soldiers had to be quartered in the city to 
prevent the apprentices from rising ; quarrels ensued, and lives 
were lost on both sides. The goldsmiths in Cheapside and Lom- 
bard Street closed their shops and concealed their money and 
goods. The courts in Westminster Hall ceased to sit, for the 
commissions of the judges had expired, and there was no autho- 
rity competent to renew them. After having thus brought all 

24— <3 



372 MONK MARCHES TO LONDON. j JSmraSrar 

government to a standstill, the officers saw only two courses open 
to them — the one to join with the Presbyterians and restore the 
House of Stuart ; the other to reinstate the Republicans. The 
latter was preferred, and the members of the Eump resumed 
their sittings (26th Dec). 

Monk, meanwhile, was advancing from Scotland at the head of 
7000 men. Lambert some weeks previously had marched north 
to oppose his approach with a force of 10,000 men (Nov.). But 
when his force had reached Marston Moor, the great Yorkshire- 
man, Lord Fairfax, emerged from his retirement in Wharfedale 
to decide the fate of England. Like other sincere patriots, he re- 
garded the restoration of the Stuarts as the only means of saving 
his country from utter anarchy. He had already promised Monk to 
effect a rising and attack Lambert in the rear as soon as the Scotch 
army had engaged him in front. But his victory was bloodless. A 
message came that a whole brigade in the rear of Lambert's army 
was ready to join him the next day on Marston Moor. Upon his 
arrival the troops presented their old general with a petition in 
favour of a free Commonwealth and against a government by a 
single person. Fairfax in reply tore the paper in pieces, and 
placed himself at the head of his raw Yorkshire levies, as though 
with them alone he were ready to fight a veteran army. His de- 
cision produced a strange effect. Troop after troop, regiment 
after regiment, came over to his side. Lambert, almost entirely 
deserted, slunk away to a country house* (3rd Jan.). Monk was 
now able to march to London unopposed. When his troops were 
once securely quartered in the capital, he declared himself plainly 
Monk de- f or a ' free Parliament/ This meant the return of 
free C parUa- Charles Stuart, for which every four men out of five 
ment. now longed (10th Feb.). The city went wild with 

delight. Bells were rung ; loyal healths were drunk in every 
street ; the whole heaven was made aglow with the light of 
hundreds of bonfires ; hardly one without a rump roasting be- 
fore it, ' for the celebration of the funeral of the Parliament.' 
That funeral was near at hand. The Republicans were still 
sitting when the old Presbyterian members, who were expelled 
by Colonel Pride eleven years before, were escorted by a guard 
to retake their seats at Westminster (21st Feb.). According 

. * Markham, Fairfax, 381 



1659—60.] THE RESTORATION. 373 

to promises made to Monk, these members carried the voluntary 
dissolution of the House, and named the 25th of LongPariia. 
April for the meeting of a new and free Parliament JSSnJj'its 
(16th March). This new Parliament is commonly own act. 
described as a convention, being summoned without the royal 
writ. Conventions are, in fact, national assemblies held, when 
the constitution is in abeyance, for the specific purpose of esta- 
blishing some form of government. The Lower House was 
tilled with Cavaliers and Presbyterians so Eoyalist in feeling 
that the few Republicans who were returned hardly dared 
show their faces among their fellow-members. The House 
of Lords was represented at its opening by only ten peers, Pres- 
byterians, who resumed their seats after an absence of eleven 
years. This Convention at once invited Charles Stuart to return 
to his kingdom. There was reason, however, to fear that his 
return might not be accomplished without bloodshed, for, though 
the nation was united, the national will was opposed by a body of 
50,000 fighting men. Every precaution was taken by Monk to 
divide the army and raise a force that might be able to cope with 
it. The fleet had now declared itself on the side of the nation ; 
the London trainbands alone numbered 20,000 men ; the militia 
was being trained and organized in every county ; the citizens 
spared neither wine nor money to secure the favour, or at least 
the neutrality, of Monk's troops, who were quartered amongst 
them. Yet men and officers would sooner have fought their new 
friends than feasted with them. ' They were like beasts,' the}^ 
would say, when feasting in the city halls, ' set up a-f atting for 
the slaughter.' But the army, though numerous, was not cap- 
able of combined and decisive action. Numbers, even though 
backed by bravery and skill, can avail little without a leader. 
The position of Monk commanded the obedience of the soldiers, 
while the support of Fairfax conciliated their feelings. On the other 
hand, neither Lambert, Desborough, nor Fleetwood could inspire 
the confidence that where they led victory must follow Charles 
Stuart returned from his exile in peace and triumph. Yet on the 
day when the new king made his entry into the capital, and on 
his way passed through the army which was drawn up on Black- 
heath to meet him, the officers kissed the royal hand with evident 
reluctance, while the men, as they stood sullenly amidst rejoicing 
thousands, looked like some black thunder-cloud that might end 



374 KEACTIOXAKY GOYEKXHENT. [conclusion-. 

the sunny day of triumph by dispersing the crowds of wel- 
comers in terror to their homes (29th May).* The dangerous 
day of entry over, the standing army was within a few months 
disbanded. The enemies of the royal prerogative feared it 
might be remodelled into an instrument of tyranny ; while 
zealous Royalists still dreaded the terrible troopers who had 
raised a Cromwell to the throne. The return of the Stuarts, 
therefore, benefited the country by saving it from the rule of 
military governors who might have tried to play the role of the 
great protector without his incomparable genius for statesman- 
ship. The longer the struggle lasted, the fiercer and more san- 
guinary it must have become, and all peace-loving men 
dreaded the day when the Fifth-Monarchists, Anabaptists, and 
Republicans who filled the army should each in succession sig- 
nalize a short-lived triumph by a proscription of political and 
religious opponents. The Stuarts or anarchy — that was the only 
choice. The Restoration may therefore justly be regarded as a 
necessity, but nevertheless the day that brought back the exiled 
race to our shores, was the beginning of a brief but dark period 
of decay. The reaction which follows a revolution is always a 
heavy drawback on the advantages which may ultimately spring 
from the triumph of the people in a struggle. With the return 
of Charles Stuart came a great reaction. An heroic age had gone 
by, and with it all noble aspirations. The government of Charles 
II. was the most shameless England ever endured. The leaders 
of the State and the leaders of society were alike venal and im- 
moral. As in the worst days of the Roman empire, virtue and 
self-respect vanished together, f Avowedly governed by self- 
interest, cupidity, and mere sensual desires, they refused to be- 
lieve in the existence of higher motives of action. The king and 
his courtiers alike lived profligate lives ; the king and his mini- 
sters alike received pensions from France. The Episcopal Church 
again set herself to work to teach the divine right of kings and 
the duty of passive obedience, and repaid the Presbyterians for 
the active help they had given in the Restoration, by rejecting 
all proposals for accommodation and inaugurating an universal 
persecution of nonconformists. The House of Commons, in an. 
excess of loyal zeal, undid much of 'the best work of the first 
years of the Long Parliament ; it passed persecuting laws, which. 
* Hacaulny, I. cb. i. f Contemptu famae contemni virtutes. — Tac. 



CAUSES OF KEACTION. 



continued for nearly two centuries to inflame f* K ^ 

passions of the strong, and corrupt the morals of «»*"*; 
Lke up theunionwhielUhe united efforts ofVaneandCromw 

ennial Bill destroyed the only security then existing for the con 
tiuuity of Parliamentary life ; and, by returning « *« °M 
svstem of representation, placed in power a »m(*«l«2 
re—tin" hut a mere minority of the Baton, which tried 
to mess own the most active forces of opinion, causing upheaval 
a tribal, till the buried giants were rtb* -^harm- 
less bv the outlet given through the Eeform Bill of 1832. 

The lotion which set in in favour of the Stuarts was a neces- 

popular revolution is successiui . j ^ 

ment, not having prescription on its side cauno p 
sanie'mild treatment of political <g*?££2 to harsh or 
foundation of centuries. Hence rt has lecomse 
arbitrary acts and brings mto< *£*£« fenced. A 
in the name of which the stiu so ^ nothing of the 

generation ^XEZZS*^ High Commis- 
scntences o th Couits rf fe ^ ^^ hcy 

sion, or of the ai bitrai) aces c tte ^ 

of "thorough^ whffeeven ■^^'^ chane3 a nd 
membrance of all tins nau ue action of high courts 

troubles of the past sixteen 7-»J*e «*«« * | 
of justice, the sale and t-^^^^ 
government by major-generals, not to men ic ]d . 

Tmce of Sundays and fast ^^ ^ f t he outcome 
established games, these seemed after all to ^b 
of Eepublican liberty and just ce If the apos ^ 
only declaimed against tyranny . d ne £1 tlmn no ^ ^ ^ 
iudeed " all men were hais It s by B o£ ^ 

disbelief in the goodness of the best of ^a ^ ^^ 

lution produce immoral P« „ , M ^^ ^ 

S« — y tnT ^wL^ held sacred on one day con- 



376 UNPRINCIPLED POLITICIANS. [conclusion, 

temned on another ; oaths required to which neither heart 
nor intellect assents. At last the pressure of the times makes 
self-mterest the rule of action ; personal security a point of 
greater moment than fidelity to friends or country. The career 
of General Monk, who shared in the government both before 
and after the Restoration, bears the stamp of his political train- 
ing. His family was Royalist, and he originally served in the 
kings armies in Ireland. On being taken prisoner he changed 
his side, and received a commission in the Parliament's army 
Cromwell, who noticed his military genius, advanced him to be 
commander-in-chief in Scotland, and he afterwards served as 
admiral on board the fleet, and shared with Blake the triumphs 
of the Dutch war. His fidelity Cromwell had never cause to 
suspect, and if Richard had had the strength to maintain his own 
power, and so guard the interests of his friends, Monk would not 
have withdrawn his support from the protectorate. But no 
principle bound him to any special form of government, or to the 
House of Cromwell more than to the House of Stuart. Foresee- 
ing the issue of events, he determined to be the first to act for the 
king, and thus to gain the credit of the Restoration. His reward 
was a seat in the council, and the title of Duke of Albemarle. 
Together with many others, who had taken a leading part in 
the late government, he did not shrink from sitting as judge in 
a court of justice which condemned his late friends to death 
as traitors. Very different to this was the school in which 
the statesmen of the Long Parliament had been trained. During 
the first quarter of the century the nation, braced by its triumph 
over Catholicism and Spain, was nerved for a struggle to make 
its political liberties more secure, and 'reform reformation' in 
religion. The only weapons it possessed were those offered by a 
free constitution. A single deviation from principle, a single 
sacrifice of the cause of the nation for that of the man, a single 
violent and illegal action, might throw back the work for years 
if not for centuries. The triumphs of the past, the great future 
before them, the necessity of courage and self-sacrifice, bred a 
race of heroes, fired by a strong spirit of patriotism, and by a yet 
stronger sense of duty, till they were ready to lay down their 
lives for their country and their conscience. The 'men who pro- 
duce revolutions' are, indeed, of a different stamp from the 
men ' whom revolutions produce.' 



1660.] THE PURITANS AND EDUCATION. 37? 

The general fall in the moral tone of the nation may be also 
in part ascribed to errors into which the Puritans were led 
through their intense earnestness. The Puritans held that it 
is one of the first duties of a government to attend to the sub- 
ject's welfare as a spiritual and intellectual being. This truth 
was capable of a right and wise application, as well as a fanatical 
perversion. Protection of person and property touches the lower 
man only ; to instruct his mind and soul concerns the ordering of 
his higher existence. Thus Milton's noble longing was that every 
faculty of a man's whole being should be educated, so that he might 
have liberty, and know how to use it. "Make it a shame," 
said Cromwell in the same spirit to one of his Parliaments, " to 
see men bold in sin and profaneness, and God will bless you. 
You will be a blessing to the nation ; and by this, will be more 
repairers of breaches than by anything in the world. Truly these- 
things do respect the souls of men, and the spirits — which are 
the men — the mind is the man. If that be kept pure, a man 
signifies somewhat ; if not, I would very fain see what difference 
there is betwixt him and a beast. He hath only some activity 
to do some more mischief."* With these feelings, Cromwell 
was specially careful of educational institutions ; he fostered 
the old universities of the south, and founded a new one at 
Durham for the north ; he reformed the character of the 
ministry — then the only educators — by exacting a strict inquiry 
before admission, so that the benefices of the Church might no 
longer be the refuge of the idle and the ignorant. The Long Parlia- 
ment, when confiscating the property of bishops and 'delinquents/ 
spared any revenues that were devoted to educational uses. In the 
New England States, where Puritans held absolute sway, while 
the popular voice required the adoption of the foolish policy of 
punishing sins as crimes, yet the legislators really raised the level 
of society by enacting a law of compulsory education. But 
though the chief leaders of the Puritan movement were advanced 
enough to perceive the slow but sure effect of education in 
bringing about a real improvement in the morals of a people, 
the large majority of their followers were allured by the deluding 
appearances of immediate reform produced by a policy of coer- 
cion. Influenced by Hebrew precedents, these sanguine spirits 
hoped by their legislation to compel the nation to live up to a 
* Carl., iii. 189. 



378 PUEITAN BEASOX AND UNEEASON. [coxclusiokl 

higher and sterner ideal. Kepublicans, Independents, and Pres- 
byterians alike took delight in fencing virtue about with penal 
laws, which often related to acts indifferent in themselves In 
this they defeated their own end. Outward conduct was influ- 
enced, but the heart and intellect revolted at the interference 
Had the Puritans wished to excite a desire of raisino- Maypoles' 
dancing on Sundays, and attending play-houses, they could not 
have done better than forbid any to take part in such amuse- 
ments under pain of a fine or a whipping. To enact for 
swearing, drinking, and gambling, punishments out of all pro 
portion to the offence, was the most efficacious means to create 
sympathy for offenders. Many, after figuring awkwardly as 
unwilling saints, as soon as the unnatural bonds were loosed 
wallowed more than ever in vice, and scoffed at virtue as mere 
cant and hypocrisy. The mass of the nation, however, was not so 
much affected by this reaction as might be supposed from the 
profligacy of the court. The Puritan spirit had too much that 
was noble in it to be easily extinguished. It still lives as one of 
the great moral forces of the nation, and is still to be seen in its 
two aspects-in the consuming zeal of the far-sighted reformer on 
the one hand, m the narrow but elevating austerity of the unin 
telligent and uneducated on the other. It still helps men to 
prefer the higher to the lower, the future to the present. Eng- 
land would not have been what it is had the salt of the nation 
been transported elsewhere by a succession of 'Mayflowers' or 
exterminated by St. Bartholomew massacres. 

In the political sphere, again, although much failed of imme- 
diate accomplishment, the work of Cromwell and his compeer 
was never really undone. To use the words of Burke, "a great 
deal of the furniture of ancient tyranny was torn to rags » Taxa- 
tion without consent of Parliament was never attempted after the 
Eestoration. Torture was never employed in England after the 
meeting of the Long Parliament * The temper of the nation 

v.! ^^t Ur ^ t ? ou S h always illegal, was used to a great extent durino- the 
rule of the Tudors and the two first Stuarts. In the § single Tear 158 there 
are no less than six warrants entered in the Council Book. It was Possible 

or persons to obtain as a favour, warrants from the king or the cCnci 
to sanction, even m ordinary criminal cases, the illegal employment of tor 

ure, so that murder, embezzlement, and horse-stealmg around amonSt 
ElizaS-1. ° ffeneeS f f Wki f t01 t Ure is t0 be used ' Sine™ .the enTof 
than St 1 gU n ° ™ tf T*f haVe bGen f0Und of its ^plication to other 
than State crimes. The last warrant issued was in 1640, the year of the 



1660.] THE REBELLION— THE REVOLUTION. 379, 

never again could bear the jurisdiction of arbitrary courts of 
justice. Above all there remained in the recollection of the 
nation the precedent of the Great Kebellion. The signal successes 
of that rebellion were convincing proofs of the power of the 
people. In great crises the consciousness, that power lies in 
the last resort with the people, can remove aristocratic prejudices 
that seem to lie like lead on the minds of legislators. The glories 
of Louis Quatorze blinded the eyes of the French court till the 
lessons of the Eevolution revealed the secret ; but to English 
legislators the secret was open, that beneath them lay an invisible 
force, which they might be allowed to trifle with, but never to 
trample on. Twenty-eight years after Charles II. was restored,. 
James II. fled to France. A coward, a bigot, and a fool, un- 
able to read aright his father's history, he endeavoured to establish 
in England at once arbitrary government, and the ascendancy of 
the Catholic religion. Even the natural supporters of the prero- 
gative went against him. Ministers, courtiers, and nobles, while 
loudly avowing their detestation of treason and rebellion, turned 
against the tyrant who excluded from his council all but Papist 
converts and Jesuits. The clergy, though regardless of their coun- 
try's liberties, turned against the spoiler of their Church. The 
people, detesting the tyrant and the bigot alike, were glad enough to 
see the upper classes do the work of resistance for them. The crown 
was declared vacant, and offered by Parliament to William and 
Mary of Orange, By the change of succession a fatal blow was 
given to the pernicious doctrine of divine right, and the law was, 
once for all, declared superior to the prerogative. William, by 
accepting the crown as a gift of Parliament, virtually admitted 
that he would reign as a constitutional king, holding sacred the 
authority of the law, and carrying out whatever reforms Parlia- 
ment should consider essential for the welfare of the people. Thus 



meeting of the Long Parliament. " In the days of the prerogative," says 
Jardine, " Magna Charta was an empty name," and trial by jury a mockery 
and a farce, when, upon the authority of a royal warrant, a man could be 
carried away to the prisons of the Tower, and after his body had been duly 
attenuated, and his spirit broken and subdued by the horrors of 'Little 
Ease' and the 'Dungeon among the rats,' be brought into court to make 
a formal answer to evidence extracted by the cruelties of the rack, or the 
manacles, or the ' scavenger's daughter.' " The use of torture was not abolished 
in Scotland till 1708; in France till 1789; in Russia till 1801; in Hanover 
till 1822 ; in Baden till 1831.— Jardine on the Use of Torture. 



380 THE KEBELLION-ITS MODERATION, [conclusion 

was the Revolution terminated, after a struggle which had lasted 
for nearly all the ninety years of the Stuart regime The exe- 
cutive was brought into dependence upon the legislature, and 
the government of the country fixed as a constitutional monarchy 
Laws granting toleration to Catholics and to Puritans, laws 
securing the liberty of the press, laws securing the independence 
of the judges, are all fruits, that time has ripened, of the armed 
resistance offered by the Long Parliament to Charles I 
1 JT ^f'^S the deU «* g™tit,.de that England owes to the 
eaders of the Great Rebellion, the moderation with which they 

Ml strifoT mUS * ?? r ^ f ° rg0tten - E ™ * tte b «« <* 
civi stirfe they respected constitutional forms. That they fought 

for the king and not against him, was not a mere quibble but 

^fafaZ J mStanC6 the rebels were not those who 

tT2t fl- su ~y of bw, but the supporters of the new 
heory of divine right and the usurpations they called preroga- 
o F,J J? , ^ remarkable how, throughout the whole course 
vLlT ^ ry ' the CaUSe ° f }ib ^y^ kss often been ad- 
o7oM T), + r n r SS '° n of newri S h tethan by the ratification 
of old. Thus the Petition of Eights and the Bill of Rights far 
from introducing any great change into the constitution,' are 
mainly the reassertion of rights already recognized at law. Such 
a. course of conservative progress was impossible in France, where 
the monarchy destroyed its own foundations by its excess" 
The permanence of kingship in England is due to its assoc.C 
tTJtt ?.P°P uai - .constitution. The French monarchy had 
its constitutional bmits, till a centralized absolutism took the 
place ot free institutions. Then when the crash came there was 
nothing known of the constitution except what was detested. 
Hence constitutional monarchs in France, instead of being looked 
on as representatives of an honoured past, are simply judged 
upon then- own merits. The fir* storm of unpopularity drfves 

anEnghsh ministry. Tims, since the fart break in continuity 
no form of government in France has lasted for more than twenty 

gumary than the French, because its causes were not, as in 
Irance, social. In France an aristocracy, answering both to no- 
bihtyand gentry in England, possessed many privileges, which 



1660—88.] FKANCE AND ENGLAND. 381 

appeared the more odious, because exercised by men who took 
no part in the government. In England the people were not 
oround down ; taxes did not fall heaviest upon those who had 
feast ; a large portion of the nobles and gentry made common 
cause with the people ; the watchwords of an absolute and envious 
" equality " never assumed any prominence in the struggle. There 
was no Vising of a famine- stricken peasantry ; no burning of 
chateaux; no flight of a whole aristocracy, to be avenged by 
foreign invasion. Had Strafford succeeded in establishing an 
arbitrary throne, supported by a standing army ; had the Eng lish 
nobles and gentry, in compensation for the loss of political rights, 
obtained exemption from taxation and other exclusive privileges, 
the revolution might have been deferred indeed, but its character, 
when it came, might have been as violent and sanguinary as the 
French. Equality before the law, a free press, every poitica 
and social reform that our constitution has been found capable ot 
adopting without any violent change of form might then have 
been onlv obtainable by rooting up the old order o things, and 
severing aU the links that now bind the present to the past. The 
nation, & divided into factions, hating and fearing one another too 
much for conciliation or even for the preservation of political 
morality, might have fallen a prey tc the ambition of military 
usuli^and found itself incapable of constructing a ree and 
3g government. De Tocqueville justly remarks that the 
effS of two centuries of absolute government on the French 
wl to make the nation so little prepared to act for itself that it 
Ionia Z reform all without destroying all : and hence the same 
revolution, which destroyed so many institutions, ideas, and 
c —opposed to liberty, destroyed, at the same time, sc .many 
others which are the necessary conditions of liberty that, like 
Se monarchy, it destroyed its own foundations by its excesses 
^nffimB may be said, like Saturn of old, to devour all 
thet own children except the one who is bom the new tyrant to 

"Cot^of the leaders of the Rebellion was remarkable 
h h t Their faith was even more remarkable ; they did not 



382 THE REBELLION-FAITH. [conclusion 

cause for which they fought, was shared by these Puritan leaders 
with their less gifted followers, but the faith which engendered 
this pride inspired them also with a rare humility. ^Though 
they gave proof enough of remarkable abilities, they never re- 
garded their own personal success and the success of their cause 
as bound up together. " It was a most indifferent thing to him 
to live or die," said Pym ; "God could carry on His work bv 
others." « Truly," said the Lord Protector, " I have, as before 
God, often thought that I could not tell what my business was, 
nor what I was in the place I stood in, save comparing myself to 
a good constable, to keep the peace of the parish." ^Cromwell's 
pre-eminent ability sufficed to ward off the Eestoration, while 
he lived. But the same spirit of faith that in seasons of 
greatest peril 'shone in him like a pillar of fire/ did not fail 
m evil days to sustain and animate those who had been his 
companions in the camp and the senate-house. Evil days 
indeed there were to come, for though the transition itself 
was accomplished without bloodshed, the old leaders were not 
suffered to escape. The new king, before he left Holland, pub- 
lished a proclamation, commanding his father's judges to surrender 
themselves up within fourteen days, on pain of being excepted 
from any pardon or indemnity either as to their lives or estates 
Ludlow, putting no faith in royal promises, escaped in time to 
the continent ; his gravestone stands in the churchyard at Vevay 
overlooking the Lake of Geneva, near which he lived on W 
enough to hear that the Revolution was consummated by the ac- 
cession of William and Mary, though even then he found his 
presence was not tolerated in his country. Hutchinson who 
surrendered upon the proclamation, died in prison in the course 
of a few months from the effects of confinement and bad air 
Marten, after twenty years' imprisonment, died an old man of 
seventy-eight at Chepstow Castle, in Monmouthshire (1681) 
Through all his sufferings he never regretted what he had done' 
We are told that towards the end of his life, he was allowed to 
take walks with his guard beyond the castle walls. An inhabi- 
tant of a neighbouring village used to ask him to rest in his 
house, and one day put the critical question, whether, supposing the 
deed were to be done over again, he would again sign the king's 
death-warrant. The stern old regicide lost his entry to the 
house by his indomitable "Yes." The buna Milton suffered 



1660—2.] FATE OF REGICIDES. 383 

with the friends whose cause his pen had so ably defended. 
His losses he regretted no more than he had regretted the loss of 
the eyes he sacrificed in writing his defence of the king's exe- 
cution against the attack of Salmasius — 

Cjriac, this three years' day these eyes, though clear 
To outward view, of blemish or of spot, 
Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot ; 
Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear) 
Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, 
Or man or woman. Yet I argue not 
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
Of heart or hope ; but still bear up and steer 
Eight onward. What supports me, dost thou ask ? 

The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 
In liberty's defence, my noble task, 

Of which all Europe rings from side to side. 
This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask 
Content, though blind, had I no better guide. * 

Nine of the king's judges were executed as traitors, besides 
Cook, the solicitor at the High Court of Justice, Hacker and 
Axtell, the commanders of the guard on the day of the execu- 
tion, and Hugh Peters, the Independent minister, through 
whose good offices Juxon had been allowed to attend the king 
during his last hours. They all died bravely, expressing con- 
fidence in the justice of their cause. Amongst their judges 
sat the Presbyterians, Denzil Hollis and the Earl of Man- 
chester ; the Independent, Lord Say-and-Sele ; and even 
Monk himself, now Marquis of Albemarle, and Sir Antony 
Ashley Cooper, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury, both of whom 
had been leading members of the government under the 
protectorate, but were now trying to efface the memories of their 
own acts by the severity of the measures they dealt to their old 
friends and accomplices. Well might Lord Fairfax indignantly 
exclaim, that ' if any man must be excepted, he knew no man 

* Taine, Hist, of English Literature, i. 419, attributes the sonnet to 
this time, but it manifestly belongs to an earlier date. The great French 
scholar, Claude Saumaise, or, as he is more commonly called, Salmasius, 
wrote a Latin treatise in defence of the divine right of kings, and in vindica- 
tion of t be memory of Charles I. (164.9.) Milton wrote an answer to the 
Defensio Regia, also in Latin (1651). He had lost the sight of one eye in 
1651, and became totally blind not long afterwards. His enemies taunted 
him with his blindness as being a judgment for having written in defence of 
the kind's death. He lived on for fourteen years after the Kestoration. 



384 THE EESTOEATION-EEYEXGE. [conclusioit 

that deserved it more than himself, who was the general of the 
army at the time/ Not satisfied with wreaking their vengeance 
upon the living, the Royalists insulted the remains of the°dead. 
The remains of the historian May, the two victorious admirals, 
Blake and Popham, the great constitutional statesman, John 
Pym, and even those of the protector's mother, and his daugh- 
ter, Lady Claypole, were torn out of their graves in West- 
minster Abbey, and flung together into a pit near the back-door 
of one of the prebendaries' houses at Westminster ; while the 
bodies of Bradshaw, of Ireton, and of Cromwell himself, the 
greatest ruler that England ever produced, were dragged to Ty- 
buro and there hanged on gibbets. 

But of all the enormities of the Eestoration, the most iniqui- 
tous was the trial and execution of Sir Henry Vane. Charles 
and Hyde, now Lord Chancellor Clarendon, had obtained the 
exception of Yane's name out of the Act of Indemnity, as 
passed by the Convention Parliament, by promising that if 
he were attainted, his sentence should be remitted. In 1662, 
that Parliament had given place to one more reactionary and 
more sanguinary ; the ruse had served its turn ; and while 
renegades obtained life and pardon by giving false witness 
against the living and defaming the dead, the noble Repub- 
lican statesman was accused of high treason against Charles 
II. for having exercised civil and military functions- under the 
usurping government. A law of Henry VII., drawing a distinc- 
tion between the king de facto and the king de jure, had assured 
indemnity to all persons who obeyed the king for the time being 
on the throne. Vane, therefore, could fairly defend himself by 
arguing that the Parliament being the government for the 
time being, there was no treason in acting under it, since this 
law limited the word 'king' in the statute of treasons to a 
king actually on the throne, and declared, in fact, there could 
be no treason in acting against one who was merely king dejure. 
He also pleaded the undoubted fact that he had opposed the act 
of the regicides at the time, and refused approbation after- 
wards. He was not, however, suffered to escape because law 
and justice were on his side. The chief justice was reported 
to have said, "Though we know not what to say to him, we 
know what to do with him." The court decided that Charles IT. 
had been king de facto as well as de jure from the moment of 



1663 1 EXECUTION OE VANE. 385 

las father's death, though "kept out of the exercise of his royal 
authority by traitors and rebels." Vane -- ^composure 
that the Restoration was to be consummated by his death. This 
dark night and black shade," he wrote to his wife, "which God 
hath drawn over His work in the midst of us, may be, for aught we 
know the ground-colour to some beautiful piece that He is now ex 
nosing to the light." True to his principles, he ascribed his ^coun- 
try's calamities to the imperfections of himself and her ministers, 
and gloried in his trial as a means of showing how death may 
be contemned by him who suffers in a good cause. Ten thou- 
sand deaths," he said to his friends, ' ra ther than denle my con- 
science, the chastity and purity of which I value beyond all the 
world I T would not for ten thousand lives part with this peace 
and satisfaction I have in my own heart both in holding to the 
purity of my principles and to the righteousness of tin ^good 
cause and to the assurance I have that God is now fulfilling all 
the e great and precious promises, in order to what He .sbrmg- 
5ofth. Although I see it not, yet I die -the faith and 
assured expectation of it." On the day of execution, TowHl 
and the roofs of the neighbouring houses were crowded with 
spectators. When Vane attempted to address then, the trumpets 
Tere ordered to blow, in fear of the impression Ins last words 
St make. " It is a bad cause," he said, " which cannot bear 
Tbe words of a dying man." His last words at the bloek^e : 
« Father glorify Thy servant in the sight of men, that he ma, 
Jriiv Thee in the discharge of his duty to Thee and to his 
country" The crowd dispelled awe-struck, regarding his con- 
stat as a " miracle." " He was great in all his ac ions but to 
me he seemed greatest in his sufferings," wrote a friend of to 
Wv while a Royalist present at the scene remarked that 
< tie klnl lost more oy that man's death than he will get again 
foI a good while." Such was the death of the great English, 
stoic, a fitting close to the history of an heroic age 



25 



APPENDIX 



Page 48. — The story of the meeting of Pym and Strafford is 
told by Dr. James Welwood in his " Histoiy of the Last Hundred 
Years preceding the Revolution in 1688." More authentic illus- 
trations of the close connection of Wentworth with the popular 
leaders before his acceptance of office are to be found in the 
Strafford Letters and Despatches. While Eliot was confined 
in the Tower, Lord Cottingdon wrote to "Wentworth in Ire- 
land that his ' old dear friend, Sir John Eliot, is very like to 
die.' Again, Laud, in one of his letters to Wentworth, commu- 
nicates the following piece of intelligence : " When we came to 
this passage in your despatch, ' Again, I did beseech them to 
look well about, and to be wise by others' harms, they were not 
ignorant of the misfortunes these meetings' [i.e., Parliaments] 
had run in England of late years,' here a good friend of yours 
interposed, ' Quorum £>ars magna fui. J " " It pierces my heart," 
says Strafford himself on his trial, " though not with guilt, yet 
with sorrow, that in my gray hairs I should be so much mis- 
understood by the companions of my youth, with whom I have 
formerly spent so much time." Wentworth's contemporaries cer- 
tainly considered him as an apostate. An attempt has recently 
been made (Quarterly Review, April, 1874), to defend him from 
the charge. The article bears evidence of most careful research* 
and the writer certainly shows that in the Parliament of 1628 $ 
Wentworth differed from Eliot on details as to the best means to 
be employed in securing the liberty of the subject, but does not 



APPENDIX. 3S7 

prove that he differed about the end in view. The main facts 
remain that Wentworth was imprisoned in 1627 for resisting a 
forced loan, that he was returned to the Parliament of 1628 as 
an extreme advocate of popular rights in the teeth of an opposi- 
tion from the court, which made his supporters afraid to disclose 
their names. Wentworth's speeches in this Parliament, as 
quoted in the article itself, seem to tell their own tale. " I can- 
not forget the duty I owe to my country, and unless we be 
secured in our liberties, we cannot give (any supplies);" 
ao-ain he wished the committee " to draw into a law what may 
assure us of our liberty of our persons and propriety of our 
croods before we report the resolution of our gift f and further, 
"some character must be put upon it (this law), and the 
council must not on every occasion leap out of it. Therefore, let 
some penalty be set on the violators thereof." When the king 
promised to observe Magna Charta, and to govern according to 
the laws and statutes of the realm, and wished Parliament to 
crive up the proposed bill and trust to this declaration, Went- 
worth persevered against the king's express wish, and proposed 
to "confirm Magna Charta and those other laws, together with, 
the Hug's declarations," by the objectionable bill This was the 
man who became the king's minister without conditions, the chief 
enemy of popular rights, and the advocate of the policy of 
Thorough. 

Paqe 6 9._Out of the twelve judges, two only, Hutton and 
Croke, decided in favour of Hampden on the ground of prin- 
ciple, viz., the illegality of the tax. Denham, who ym very dl, 
Ze a short written judgment, expressing no opmmn on the 
ferity of the tax, but deciding in favour of Hampden on tech- 
nical founds, viz., that the action was brought m the wrong 

om. Bramston and Davenport both agreed that in .me of 
danger the king had the power of levying the tax, and that he 
tXle judge of the danger. Like Denham, however, they gave 

lutmen in favour of Hampden on technical grounds, vi, that 



CSS APPENDIX. 

The judgment of the majority, as that of the court, was delivered 
agaiust Hampden, 12th June, 1638. 

lb. Cadmean [or suicidal] victory, see Hdt. i. 116. 

Page 70. — 12th December, 1638. Address of Anthony Cham- 
peney, dean of the secular Catholic clergy in England, exhorting 
them to pray for the king's success against the Scots. (From 
Clar. MSS. in Bodleian, No. 1158. Copy by Windebank.) 

" Dearly beloved Brethren, — Though I doubt not but that you 
daily present your humble and earnest prayers unto Almighty 
God for his Majesty, according to St. Paul his exhortation in 
these words : Obsecro fieri orationes pro Regibus et omnibus qui 
m sublimitate sunt, ut quietam et tranquillam vitam agamus in 
omni pietate et castitate, hoc enim bonum est, et acceptum coram 
Salvatore nostro Deo ; yet, considering these broken times, I 
could not admit at this present to stir you up now earnestly to 
the performance of this your duty towards your sovereign, 
wishing you all and every one of you to exhort the Catholics 
with whom you converse, and you also yourselves, to have more 
frequent recourse to Almighty God by prayer, for the peace and 
quietude of his Majesty's dominions in these general troubles of 
all Europe, and for the prosperity of his Majesty, the Queen, and 
all the royal issue, begging of Almighty God in their behalfs that 
which the prophet Baruch did for the king and prince under 
whom he lived, ' ut sint dies eorum sicut dies caeli super terrain, 
et ut det Dominus virtutem nobis, ut illuminet oculos nostros et 
vivamus sub umbra eorum et serviamus eis multis diebus.' And 
also that their subjects may be indued with the spirit of dutiful 
submission and obedience, for as St. Paul teacheth us, l Non est 
potestas nisi a Deo, itaque qui resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi 
resistit. Qui autem resistunt, ipsi sibi damnationem acquirunt.' 

" Considering the reports which are spread abroad concerning 
the discontented humours of some of his Majesty's subjects in 
Scotland, although I hope they are not so bad as the general 
voice doth make them, yet in regard that good subjects cannot 
be too zealous in that which concerneth his Majesty's service, I 
do earnestly entreat you all to exhort, move, and insist seriously 
with the Catholics that as the religion which they profess doth 
teach them next after God to honour and serve their Prince, and 
as they themselves have always professed to be ready to lay their 



APPENDIX. 339 

lands and goods at his Majesty's feet, in witness of their allegi- 
ance and loyalty towards him, so they would at this present, of 
their own accord, without expecting to be called on, endeavour 
and think of some means, every one according to his liability, to 
make an efficacious and real expression of the same, to the end 
that his Majesty may understand that if he should have use of 
them, they are ready in all occurrences that may fall out to serve 
to the utmost, both with their fortunes and persons, according as 
his Majesty shall please to command or accept of their service in 
that kind." 

Page 83.— Cromwell was already known to the government as 
a supporter of popular rights. The municipal government of the 
town of Huntingdon, Cromwell's birthplace, had been vested in 
a body of bailifi's and burgesses elected annually by the residents. 
By a new charter this body was changed to a mayor, alderman, 
and recorder, all elected for life. The people opposed the change, 
and were supported by Oliver Cromwell, who used some strong 
language against the new mayor and new recorder. The council 
was appealed to, and a messenger was despatched to Huntingdon 
with a warrant for the apprehension of Oliver Cromwell, who. 
on the 26th Nov., 1630, was brought before the lords of the 
council. After five days' detention, the case was gone into, and 
< both sides had a long hearing,' but it was finally referred to the 
Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Manchester, who owned Hinchin- 
brook in the neighbourhood of Huntingdon, until lately the resi- 
dence of Sir Oliver Cromwell, the uncle of the future protector. 
Manchester's report is as follows : 

" Whereas it pleased your lordships to refer unto me the dif- 
ferences in the town of Huntingdon about the renovation of their 
charter and some wrongs done to Mr. Mayor of Huntingdon, 
and Mr. Barnard, a counsellor-at-law [the recorder] by disgraceful 
and unseemly speeches used of them by Mr. Cromwell of Hunt- 
ingdon . . I have heard the said differences, and do find those 
supposed fears of prejudice that might be to the said town by 
their late altered charter, are causeless and ill-grounded, and the 
•endeavour used to gain many of the burgesses against this new 
corporation was very indirect and unfit, and such as I could not 
but much blame them that stirred in it. For Mr. Barnard s car- 
riage of the business in advising and obtaining the charter, it 



530 APPENDIX. 

was fair and orderly done, being authorised by common consent 

n„eh t 7 , 7 ame ' anU the thin S effected ^ him tend* 

much to the good and grace of the town For the words 

spoken of Mr. Mayor and Mr. Barnard by Mr. CromweTl as 
they were ill, so they are acknowledged to be spoken in heat 
and ,_' and desired to be forgotten; and I found Mr 
Cromwell my willing to hold friendship with Mr. Barnard, who 
with a good-will remitted the unkind passages past and enter- 
tamed the same. So I left all parties reconciled, and wished 

XStttot r . inthmgSthatmaybef - h; — °« 
" December 6th, 1630." « H Manchester 

A few months after the earl's award, Cromwell sold his pro- 
per y at Huntingdon, and removed to St. Ives.-Calendar of 
btate Papers, 1629—1631. 

Page 84.-Browning's Strafford I., i. The words are put in 
the younger Vane's mouth. p 

Page 9£ l.-Wentworth obtained from Charles enlarged powers 
or himself, as Pres.dent of the Court of the North. 1 jud^cf 
assize acted in opposition to them, whereupon Wentworth wrote 
from Ireland to Lord Cottingdon as follows • 

tl,rp d0 Tt hU f bly heSee ° h tMs J ud S e ma y be opened at 

meanoT \T ^^ ** *»» * W0 ^ ^ 

ZT£2 ', ' ', ', I am a m ° St earnest suitor t0 ^ Majesty 

and their lordships, that he be not admitted to go that circuit 
hereafter; and indeed I do most earnestly beseec! his Ma est 
by you, that we may be troubled no more with such a peevish 
nd^crcet piece of flesh. I confess I disdain to see the gownmeu 
in this sort hang their noses over the flowers of the crown, blow 
and snuffle upon them till they take both scent and beauty off 
them • or to have them put such a prejudice upon all other sorts 

L? ' ", I" "' W6re aWe OT WOrth y t0 be ^trusted with 
honour and administration of justice but themseW-Strafford 
-Letters and Despatches, i. 129 

the^orfn .^ e T nt T th ' s ad ™ e > Charles agreed to bestow upon 
theLmd Chief Justice and Lord Chief Baron of Ireland four 

com^?-' ."A ° Ut ° £ fte &St yearf y rent ™ sed "P™ «>e 
doTten, t f eCtlVe tUleS - " N ° V " wrote Wentworth; << they 
do intend ,t with a care and diligence such as if it were theb 



APPENDIX. 3 gi 

own private. And most certain the gaining themselves every 
four shillings once paid will better your revenue for ever after at 
least five pounds." — lb., ii. 41. 

" It is plain, indeed, that the opinion delivered by the judges, 
declaring the lawfulness of the assignment for the shipping is 
the greatest service that profession have done the crown in my 
time. But unless his majesty hath the like power declared to 
raise a land army upon the same exigent of State, the crown 
seems to me to stand upon one leg at home, to be considerable 
but by halves to foreign princes abroad. Yet sure this me. 
thinks convinces a powder for the sovereign to raise payments for 
land forces, .... and if by degrees Scotland and Ireland be 
drawn to contribute their proportions to these levies for the 
public, omne tulit punctum . . . this piece well fortified for 
ever vindicates the royalty at home from under the restraints of 
subjects . . . settles an authority and right in the crown to 
levies of that nature, which thread draws after it many huge and 
great advantages more proper to be thought on at some other 
seasons than now." — lb., ii. 62. 
A description of Wentworth, written by Sir Thomas Eoe to 

Elizabeth, wife of the Elector Palatine. 

*' My Lord Deputy of Ireland doth great wonders and governs 
like a king, and hath taught that kingdom to show an example of 
envy by having Parliaments and knowing wisely how to use 
them ; for they have given the king six subsidies, which will 
arise to £24,000, and they are like to have the liberty we con- 
tended for, and grace from his Majesty worth their gift double ; 
and which is worth more, the honour of good intelligence and 
love between the king and his people, which I would to God 
our great wits had had eyes to see. This is a great service, and 
to give your Majesty a character of the man — he is severe abroad 
and in business, and sweet in private conversation ; retired in 
his friendships, but very firm ; a terrible judge, and a strong 
enemy ; a servant violently zealous in his master's ends, and not 
negligent of his own ; one that will have what he will, and though 
of great reason, he can make his will greater, when it may serve 
him ; affecting glory by a seeming contempt ; one that cannot 
stay long in the middle region of fortune, but entrejirenant : but 
will either be the greatest man in England, or much less than he 
is ; lastly, one that may and his nature lies fit for it, for ho 



302 APPENDIX. 



i« ambitious to do what others will not — do your Majesty very 
great service, if you can make him." 

Page 107.— The decision of the question was deferred by a 
vote, which was carried, 'that this declaration shall not be 
printed without a particular order of the House.' 

Page 139.— « A feat repeated by their Breton brethren at La 
Vendee."— See Alison's History of Europe, iii. 326, 342, 365. 

Page 181.— Richard Symonds, a Royalist officer, and Sir Edward 
A\ alker, Garter-king at arms, both of whom were with the royal 
army, give the following account of the storming of Leicester : 

On Thursday (29th May), the royal army sat down before 
the city. On Friday (30th May), Rupert raised a battery and 
sent a trumpeter to demand surrender. No satisfactory answer 
being returned, he caused the battery to play, which by six o'clock 
made a great breach in the watt Between twelve and two 
o'clock at night the town was stormed and taken. Symonds says 
the garrison was 600 men; Walker, that officers, soldiers, and 
townsmen in arms together amounted to 1200. Walker says the 
town was 'miserably sacked,' as do Symonds and Sprigge ; but 
bpngge's account of the siege lasting four days seems wrong. 

Page 203. -Milton's sonnet-Edwards wrote " Reason against 
Independence and Toleration" (1641). 

Page 221.-Morrice, chaplain to Lord Broghill, tells the 
well-known story how Cromwell and Ireton, in the disguise of 
troopers, found a letter of the king's to the queen, concealed in a 
saddle. He heard the story from Lord Broghill, who had heard 
it from Cromwell. Morrice says that in the letter "the W 
acquainted the queen that he was courted by both factions, the 
fccoteh Presbyterians and the army, and which bid fairest for 
him should have him ; but he thought he should close with the 
bcots sooner than the other" (Morrices Life of Broghill pre- 
fixed to Orrery State Letters, 1743). The contents of the leLr 
are usually take n from Richardson's account of a conversation 

e Ron" A"'! B f n fr ke - " L ° rd Bo ^roke told us" 
[ie 1 ope a«d Richardson] (12th June, 1742), "that Lord Oxford 
had often told him that he had seen and had in his hand an 
original letter that Charles I. wrote to the queen, 'that she 



APPENDIX. 893 

might be entirely easy as to whatever concessions he should 
make, for that he should know in due time how to deal with the 
rocmes' » [i.e., Cromwell and the others], "'who, instead of a silken 
^rter should be fitted with an hempen cord.'" Richardson 
merely says that those concerned awaited and intercepted the 
letter, without specifying persons or place. (Richardsomana, by 
the late Jonathan Richardson, jun., 1776). 

Page 242. Sigebehrt, King of Wessex, deposed (755) by his 
successor, Cenwulf, and the West Saxon Witan; jhthtlnd the 
Second (the Unready), deposed in favour of the invader Swegen, 
(1013), and restored (1014). Harthacnut deposed from his 
West Saxon kingdom, while still uncrowned because ^insisted 
on remaining in Denmark (1037) : afterwards re-elected to the 
whole kingdom of England (1040). See Freeman's Norman 

C °Set S^JZF*. Witan had the power to depose 
thfkfcg, if bis government was not conducted for the good of 

^Xftubbs, however, limits the cases of real deposit! on to , A. 
TTer,tarchic period, a time of unexampled civil anarchy. The in- 

are amon" the Northumbrian kings. Alcred or Ealhied (7 74) 
denosT' by the counsel and consent of his own people/ i.e by 

than w^ his depositiom-Stubbs' Const. History, i. p. 138. 

7, 974 275 -For an excellent account of the times, see 
Pages 274, 275. -coi a Alsatia, lb. 

Sir W. Scott's Fortunes of Nigel, chap, l, ana 

xvi., xvii. 

r* • ~* t o+tprq of Intelligence, from MSS. in 
Page 338.— Copies of Letteis oi j.nw»ufe , 

Bodleian. « 4th April, 1653, N.S. 

-B was debatedin the House a fortnight ago whether we should 



394 APPENDIX. 

send an ambassador for Holland or no ; they seemed much di- 
vided about it. . . . The same day the House debated this, the 
council of officers at St. James' had resolved to turn them out, 
and to have shut up the House doors, had not the general and 
Col. Desborough interceded, who asked them if they destroyed 
that Parliament, what they should call themselves, a State they 
could not be. They answered that they would call a new Par- 
lament. Then says the general, the Parliament is not the su- 
preme power, but that is the supreme power that calls it, and 
besides the House is now endeavouring a treaty with Holland 
(which is the only way that we have left for the destroying of 
the combination of our enemies, both at home and beyond sea), 
and if we destroy them, neither Holland nor any other State will 
«nter into a treaty with us. This seemed to satisfy them at 
present, but they have met since, and are framing a petition." 

"May, 1653. 
" I will not trouble you with the names of our new Council of 
State, nor with the proclamation subscribed by the general, 
because they are in print. The people generally entertain and 
acquiesce in it, yet in the army are some divisions about it, and 
there is a party which menace a second purgation because some 
persons have been refused to sit at the helm whom they pro- 
pounded. Our general is very sedulous to give satisfaction to all 
parties, and after he hath made a peace with Holland (which, if 
once they treat we doubt not of), he will cement all other differ- 
ences. He is very kind to the old malignant party, and some 
have found much mora favour since the late dissolution than in 
seven years' solicitation before. This hath been effected by the 
Court of Articles, where the honour of the army is much con- 
cerned. Mr. Bradshaw is president, who checked a councillor at 
that bar for saying the Parliament was dissolved, which many of 
the members will not acknowledge, terming it only a disturb- 
ance." 

Page 290. — "Copperspath" (i.e. Cobburn's-path) is Cromwell's 
version of the Scotch Cockburn's-path. 



INDEX. 



Act of Settlement, 6 ; of Settlement for 
Ireland, 342 ; of Supremacy, 9 ; of 
Uniformity, 10 ; for triennial Parlia- 
ments, 99, 375 ; rendering Long Par- 
liament indissoluble but by its own 
consent, 100, 315 ; abolishing illegal 
courts, 101 ; excluding ecclesiastics 
from civil office, 102, 10S, 115 ; Navi- 
gation, 300 ; for conducting law pro- 
ceedings in English, 312 

Amboyna, 253, 331 

America, 75, 253, 254 

Anabaptists, 204, 303, 330 

Areopagitica, 207 

Argyle, Duke of, 227, 230 

Armada, Spanish, 13 

Armour, 125, 126 

Army, remodelled, 178, 214, 217, 220, 
224, 236, 371, 373 

Ascham, 278 

Ashburnhani, John, 222 

Assembly, of Divines, 150, 154, 195, 203 ; 
of Peers, 81 

Astley, Sir Jacob, 193 

Austria, 22, 65 

Bacon, Sir Francis, 252, 262, 30G 

Balfour, 108 

Barbadoes, 335 

Bastwick, 73, 86 ' 

Batten, Admiral, 134 

Baxter, 32 

Berkeley, Judge, 85 

Berkley, 222 

Berwick, Pacification of, 78 

Bill, Dissolution, 313 ; for command of 

militia, 114 ; bisbops' exclusion, 114 
Bills of Attainder, 91, 96, 98 
Birch, Colonel, 233 
Bishops, 11, 108, 109, 114 



Blake, Admiral, 190, 296, 300—302, 317, 

322, 339, 354, 356, 384 
Booth, Sir George, 370 
Bradshaw, 238, 239, 384 
Brentford, 132 
Bristol, 139, 24S 
Broghill, Lord, 304, 363 
Brook, Robert Greville, Lord, 132 
Brownists, 204 
Buckingham, George Yilliers, Duke of, 

27—34, 40, 43, 45 
Burton, 73, 86 
Byron, Lord, 146 

Cadiz, 33, 356 

Calais, 353, 359 

Calvert, Sir John, 19 

Casaubon, Meric, 340 

Catholics, 69, 70, 151, 312, 341. See Ap- 
pendix 

Cecil, Sir Edward, 33 

Chambers, 59, S6 

Charles I. visits Spain, 27; marriage 
treaty broken off, 28; refuses assem. 
to Tonnage and Poundage Bill, 31 ; 
lends ships to Louis XIII. , 32 ; im- 
prisons managers of Buckingham's 
impeachment, 36; war with Prance, 
37 ; demands general loan, 38, 39 : 
answers to Petition of Bight, 42, 43, 
47 ; proclamation of, against Parlia- 
ment, 50 ; education and character, 
51 ; love of art, 256 ; court of, 29, 53 ; 
arbitrary government of, 54 59 ; at- 
tempts to establish Episcopacy in 
Scotland, 76, 7S ; foreign policy of, 78; 
summons Assembly of Peers, 80 ; 
conduct towards Strafford, 84, 96, 97 ; 
assents to Ariny Plot, 94 ; concessions 
in Scotland, 103 ; suspected of com- 



INDEX. 



plicity in Irish rebellion, 104, 105 ; re- 
action in favour of, 106, 107 ; guard at 
Whitehall, 10S ; attempts to seize five 
members, 110, 111 ; visits Guildhall, 
112 ; prepares for war, 114 ; consents 
to Bishops' Exclusion Bill, 115 ; refuses 
Militia Bill, 11G ; refused admittance 
into Hull, 116 ; rejects York proposi- 
tions, 118 ; raises standard, 119 ; de- 
ceit, cause of war, 120 ; at Edgehill, 
124-131 ; attacks Brentford, 132 ; 
classes on side of, 134 ; answer to Ox- 
ford propositions, 136 ; success of 
forces, 139, 141 ; besieges Gloucester, 
142 ; at Newbury, 145 ; habits of 
troops, 148, 158 ; cessation of arms 
with Irish, 15S ; Oxford Parliament, 
157 ; defeats Waller, 160 ; forces Essex 
to surrender, 167 — 169 ; at Newbury, 
172 ; breaks off Uxbridge negotiations, 
177 ; at Naseby, 186 ; letters published, 
187; treaty with Irish Catholics, 191, 
192 : goes to Scotch camp, 193 ; rejects 
Newcastle propositions, 197 ; removed 
from Holmby by Joyce, 215, 217 ; re- 
jects army propositions, 219 ; flies to 
Isle of Wight, 222 ; treaty with Scots, 
225 ; concessions at Newport, 235 ; hesi- 
tates to escape, 236 ; trial and execu- 
tion, 238—247. See Appendix. 

Charles Louis, elector palatine, 306, 353 

Chillingworth, 211 

Church, Episcopalian, 9—13, 20, 40, 69— 
75, 102, 150 ; Presbyterian, 10, 75, 202 ; 
Independent, 12, 195 

Christina, Queen of Sweden, 35 

Claypole, Lady Elizabeth, 364, 3S4 

Clubmen, 1S8 

Colchester, 227. 330 

Colepepper, 106, 109, 181, 187 

Colonies, 75, 251—254, 296 

Companies, 250, 253 

Confirmatio Char tar am, 1 

Confiscations, 212, 233, 309 

Cooper, Sir Antony Ashley, 3S8 

Copyholders, 3, 267 

Cotton, Sir Robert, 255 

Council, King's, 7, 17, 101 

Court, of Admiralty, 19 ; of Chancery, 
6, 318—320, 332 ; of Exchequer, 6, 68, 
74 ; of King's Bench, 16, 39, 57 ; of the 
North, 58 ; of High Commission, 7, 16, 

72, 101 ; of Star Chamber, 7, 15, 59, 

73, 74, 101, 267 

Courts of Common Law, 6, 317—320 ; 
High Courts of Justice, 23S, 307 

Covenant, Scotch, 77 ; Solemn League 
and, 153 

Covenanters, Scotch, 77— SO, 227, 285, 
291 

Cromwell, Hemy, 337, 346 

Cromwell, Oliver, member for Hunting- 
don, 41 ; for Cambridge, 83 ; leader of 
Independents, 102 ; lieutenant-general 
of eastern counties' army, 155 ; cha- 
racter of troops, 156 ; at Marston 



Moor, 163—166 ; quarrels with Man- 
chester, 173 ; supports Self-denying 
Ordinance, 174 ; lieutenant-general of 
remodelled army, 182 ; at Naseby, 1S5 : 
in west, 18S ; character and appear- 
ance, 209, 210, 341, 366 ; views of set- 
tlement, 216, 218, 221, 224, 226 ; sup- 
presses mutinies in army, 224, 281 ; 
defeats Scots at Preston, 22S— 230; 
supports execution of king, 23S, 240 ; 
in Ireland, 281 — 2S4 ; commander-in- 
chief of army, 2S5 ; in Scotland, 287 ; 
at Dunbar, 2SS— 290 ; at Worcester, 292 
—295 ; political views of, 303—313 ; 
expels Long Parliament, 314 ; sum- 
mons Barebone's Parliament, 316; 
protector, 227 ; ideal of government, 
229 ; plots against, 330, 351, 363 ; 
reform of Church, 331 ; of Chancery, 
332, 340 ; quarrels with Parliaments, 
334, 348, 361 ; rules arbitrarily, 336 ; 
moderation of, 337 — 339 ; urges re- 
forms of law, 340 ; encourages learn- 
ing, 260, 840, 377 ; toleration of, 341— 
343 ; refuses title of king, 350 ; 
foreign policy of, 331, 352—359 ; pro- 
tects Vaudois, 35S ; economy of go- 
vernment, 360 ; friends of govern- 
ment, 363 ; illness and death, 364 — 
366. See Appendix 

Cromwell, Richard, 367— 3G9 

Cropredy Bridge, 159 

Customs, 15, 31, 157, 251 

Davenant, Sir William, 260 
Dean, Admiral, 296, 325 
Debtors, 323 
Denmark, 331 
De Ruvter, 325 
Desborough, 32S, 336, SCO, 370 
Digby, Lord, 1SS 
Dorislaus, Dr., 27S 
Dragoons, 125 
Drogheda, 282 
Dunbar, 2SS— 290 
Dunkirk, 353, 356, 357, 363 

Edgehill, 126-131 
Eikun Basilike, 278 
Eliot, Sir John, IS, 19, 35, 50, 56, 57, 

255 
Elizabeth, Queen, government of, 8—14 
Elizabeth of Bohemia, 14, 22 
Engagers, 230, 291 
Erastians, 200 
Essex, Robert Devcreux, Earl of, 94, 

118, 12S, 130, 133. 137, 141, 143, 145— 

147, 159, 107, 168, 212 
Excise, 158 
Exports, 253 

Fairfax, Lord Ferdinando, 161 

Fairfax, Lady, 239 

Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 117, 161, 165, ISC, 

213, 215, 223, 227, 231, 233, 23S. 244. 

259, 2S0, 332, 372, 3S3 



INDEX. 



337 



Falkland, Sir Lucius Gary, Lord, 82, 83, 
103, 106, 110, 117, 136, 146, 255 

Fauconberg, Lord, 357 

Felton, 44 

Fiennes, Nathaniel, 119, 139 

Fifth-Monarchists, 204, 303, 330 

Finch, Sir John, 49, 66, 85 

Fleetwood, 190, 292, 32S, 336, 344, 369 

Fox, George, 343 

France, 3, 38, 298. 353, 356, 359, 330, 381 

Frederic, Prince of the Palatinate, 14, 
21, 23, 25 

Freeholders, 2, 121, 134, 264, 266 

Glamorgan, Lord Herbert, Earl of, 190, 

255 
Gloucester, 143 

Goring, Colonel, 163, 165, 1S1, 1ST, 
Government, three functions of, 1—6. 

See Appendix 
Grenville, Sir Richard, 167, 1S1, 187 
Gustavus Adolphus, 66 

Habeas Corpus, writ of, 15, 16, 101 

Hale, Sir Matthew, 339 

Hamilton, James, Duke of, 227, 229, 307 

Hammond, 222 

Hampden, John, 68, 91, 107, 110, 113, 

114, 119, 128, 130, 137, 13S, 149 
Harlech Castle, 212 

Haslerig, Sir Arthur, 110, 119, 2SS, 30S, 

361 
Henrietta Maria, 53, 64, 93, 97, 105, 111, 

115, 158, 176, 196, 236 
Heyworth Moor, 117 
Highlanders, 170 
Hobbes, 211, 340 

Holland, 252, 253, 299, 300 ; war with, 

301, 302, 325, 331, 361. 
Hollis, Denzil, 49, 106, 119, 383 
Hopton, Sir Ralph, 122, 139 
Hotham, Sir John, 135 
Howard, Lord, of Esrick, 310 
Huguenots, 37, 40, 44—46 
Huntingdon, Major-General, 231 
Hutchinson, Colonel, 190, 203, 208, 245, 

259, 382 
Hyde, Edward, 82, 103, 106. 109, 113, 

117, 181, 191, 258, 346, 351, 3S4 

Impeachment, 34, 35, 37, S4, So, 110 

Imports, 253 

Independents, 102, 154, 167, 195, 201, 

234 
India, 251, 253 

Instrument of Government, 326 
Ireland, 61, 63, 64, 104, 156, 278, 2S1-- 

284, 316, 333, 345, 375 
Irish troops, 157, 170 
Ireton, Henry, 183, 185, 190, 209, 217, 

219, 221, 230, 235, 237, 243, 245, 284, 

304, 384 
Ironsides, 156, 164, 166 

Jamaica, 355 

James I., government of, 14—28, 25* , 262 



Jermyn, Lord, 258 

Jews, 343 

Jones, Inigc, 256 

Joyce, Cornet, 215 

Judges, 6, 44, 68, 83, 323, 339 

'Killing no murder,' 351 
King, General, 163 

Labourers, 270 

Lamb, Dr., 41 

Lambert, 289, 292, 36», 370, 372 

Laud, William, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 59, 72—75, 85, 178 

Law, English common, 317 — 320, 339 ; 
martial, 40 ; see Act, Ordinance 

Leeds, 248 

Leicester, 181. See Appendix 
I Lenthall, William, 112, 219, 370 



Leslie, Alexander, Earl of Lcven, 157, 

161, 164, 165, 167 
Leslie, David, 161, 2S7— 290, 291—295 
Levellers, 221, 223, 235. 245, 2S0, 335, 

337, 350 
Lilburne, John, 73, 86, 221, 234, 307 
Lindsey, Earl of, 128, 130 
Loans, 5, 38, 39 
Lockhart, 339, 357 
London, 113, 117, 131—133, 135, 140, 151, 

216, 220, 226, 248, 251, 272—275, s71 
Lords, House of, 2, 117, 177, 23S, 277, 

349, 360, 373 
Louis XIII., 33, 37, 7S 
Louis XIV., 298, 356, 357 
Lunsford, Colonel, 107 
L-dlow, Edmund, 190, 20S, 219, 220, 336, 

346, 382 

Magna Charta, 2 

Major-generals, 336, 349 

Manchester, Edward Montague, Earl of, 
110, 129, 155, 172, 174, 383 

Manchester, 247 

Mardyke, 356, 348 

Marston Moor, 161—167 

Marten, Sir Henry, Judge of Admi- 
ralty, 6 

Marten, Henry, son of Judge, 152, 313, 
382 

Massev, 142 

Maurice, Prince, 14, 119, 135, 139, 296 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 193, 357 

Mercantile system, 350 

Mercurius Aulicus, 149 

Militia, 114, 116, 118 

Milton, John, 75, 132, 200, 203, 206—208, 
259, 296, 328, 339, 346, 358, 377, 383 

Monopolies, 55, 67, 249 

Monk, General, 291, 301, 304, 317, 325 
371—373, 376, 383 

Montreuil, M. de, 193 



Montrose, Marquis of, 170, 176, 189 195. 

2S5 
MountnorvLs, Lord, 64 



398 



INDEX. 



Naseby, 182— ISO 

Naylor, 343, 34S, 350 

Newcastle, Marquis of, 134, 141, 15S, ICO, 

163, 165, 167 
Newbury, 143-147, 173 
Newspapers, 100, 149, 20S, 336 
Noy, 06 
Nutt, Captain, 19 

Ordinance, Self-Denying, 175, 177 ; for 
remodelling army, 175 ; for new 
Prayer-book, 202 ; for establishment of 
Presbyterian Church, 202 ; for sup- 
pression of blasphemies and heresies, 
203 ; forbidding use of Prayer-book, 
204 ; for High Court of Justice, 23S ; 
forbidding t Episcopalian ministers to 
act as chaplains or schoolmasters, 336 ; 
for reform of Chancery, 332, 340 ; for 
union of England and Scotland, 344 

Ordinances or proclamations made in 
council, 5 ; for suppression of vice 
and observance of Sundays, 151 ; for 
reform of Church, 331 ; for restraining 
unlicensed printing, 152, 207, 208 

Ormond, Duke of, 156, 190, 192, 195, 235, 
2S1, 363 

Oxenstiern, 330 

Oxford, 133, 135, 157, 15S 

Palatinate, 22, 353 

Parliament, privileges of, 25, 232 ; classes 
represented in, 2, 3, 333 ; character of, 
in seventeenth century, 100 ; of 1621, 
24 ; o/1625, 30—32 ; o/1626, Bucking- 
ham impeached, 35 ; of 1628, Petition 
of Right, 41—43 ; session of 1629, 48, 
49 ; Short Parliament of 1640, 79 ; Long 
Parliament, meeting of, 83 ; proceed- 
ings against Strafford, 84, 87 — 93, 97 ; 
against delinquents, S3, 85 ; votes 
Scots £300,000, 94 ; reforms of, 99, 101 ; 
religious parties in, 102 ; debates on 
Grand Remonstrance, 106 ; five mem- 
bers impeached, 110 ; sits in Guildhall, 
113 ; a war council, 117 ; constitu- 
tional attitude of, 122 ; classes on side 
of, 121, 133 ; peace party in, 135 ; 
peace propositions of Lords, 140 ; 
petitioned by mobs, 140 ; parties in, 
152 ; armies of, 157 ; quarrels with 
army, 212 —214 ; yields to army, 216 ; 
intimidated by Presbyterian mob, 
219 ; fugitive members restored, 220 ; 
votes no more addresses to king, 225 ; 
reverses votes, and negotiates with 
Charles, 231 ; causes of unpopularity, 
231—234 ; financial administration of, 
233 ; accepts king's concessions, 237 ; 
purged by Pride, 237 ; Bump erects 
high court for trial of king, 238 ; 
establishes Republic, 277 ; raises a 
powerful navy, 296 ; government re- 
cognized abroad, 297 ; foreign policv, 
297—299; war with Holland, 299— 
£02 ; severity of government, 307—310 ; 



eform of raw, 312 ; bill for new re 
presentative, 313 ; expelled by Crom- 
well, 314 ; restored by officers, 370, 
371 ; Presbyterian members restored 
by Monk, 372 ; votes own dissolution, 
373. Barebone's, reforms of, 317—325 ; 
First of Protector, 333, 334 ; reformed 
representation, 333 ; Second of Protector, 
sentence on Naylor, 34S ; Petition and 
Advice, 349 ; Second Session, new House 
of Lords, 360 ; dissolved, 362 ; o> 
Bichard Gromviell, 368 ; Convention 373 
Oxford Parliament, 157. 

Patronage, 323 

Pembroke Castle, 227 

Penderells, 295 

Penn, Admiral, 354, 356 

Pennington, Captain, 32 

Penruddock, 334 
I Peters, Hugh, 3S3 
| Petition and Advice, 349, 360, 367 

Petition of Right, 42 

Pilgrim Fathers, 75, 254 

Pirates, 32, 66 

Poor Laws, 26S— 270 

Popham, 296 

Population, 24S 

Portugal, 296, 331, 358 

Post Office, 272 

Prerogative, royal, 5, 29, 42, 51, 6S 

Presbyterians, in England, 10, 102, 150, 
151, 155, 17S, 189, 192, 195, 202, 214, 
231, 237, 307, 330, 302 ; in Scotland, 11, 
76, 153, 201 

Preston, 227—230 

Pride, Colonel, 237, 312, 300 

Prisoners, 149, 3:35 

Prisons, 261, 323, 325 

Proclamations, 55 

Propositions, of York, US ; of Oxford, 
136; of Uxbridge, 176; of Newcastle, 
195 ; of army, 217 ; of Newport, 235 

Prvnne, 73, 236 

Puritans, 9, 12, 20, 22, 70—74, 256, 25S, 
377, 37S 

Pvm, John, 42, 4S, 84, 91, 95, 102, 103, 
106, 109, 160, 116, 123, 154, 306, 382, 
384 

Quakers, 342 

Raleigh, Sir "Walter, 23 
Regicides, fate of, 382, 3S3 
Remonstrance, Grand, 116, 120 
Republicans, 152, 205, 225, 299, 234, 244, 

304—307, 327, 330, 334—337, 348, 361, 

368, 370 
Rich, Robert, 360, 364 
Rochelle, 32, 40, 44, 46 
Royalists, 121, 134, 136, 139, 149, 157, 

167, 227, 273, 307, 335, 33S, 350 
Royal Revenue, 53 
Rubens, Peter Paul, 256 
Rupert, Prince, 14, 119, 126, 128— 13:. 

135, 138, 139, 142, 149, 159, 161-167. 

181. 185 1S8, 296 



INDEX. 



Salmasius, 383 

Santa Cruz, 354 

Savoy, Duke of, 358 

Say-and-Sele, Lord, 342 

■Scots, 77, 80, 94, 154, 190, 193, 198, 225, 
227, 229, 284, 285-291, 316, 333, 344, 
375 

.Sectarians, 12, 135, 152, 204 

Selden, 201 

Sexby, 33S, 351 

Seymour, William, 17 

Sheffield, 247 

Ship-money, 66, 6S, S3. See Appendix 

Shrewsbury, Countess of, 17 

Sidney, Algernon, 190, 23S, 244 

Skippon, US, 133, 185, 213, 244, 336 

Socage tenure, 2 

Spain, 22, 28, 33, 37, 350, 353, 355—357 

Statute of Winchester, 114 

St. Domingo, 355 

St. John, 119, 299, 303, 369 

St. Kitts, 354 

Strafford, Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl 
of. 42, 47, 52, 60-65, 78, S5, S7— 92, 95, 
97. See Appendix 

Strickland, 299 

Strode, 110 

Stuart, Lady Arabella, 17 ; Lady Eliza- 
beth, 217, 240 ; Charles, Prince of 
Wales, 130, 181, 192, 227, 236, 278, 2S5, 
291—296, 350, 361, 363, 370 ; James, 
357, 379 

Subsidies, 15, 30, 15S 

Superstitions, 262 

Sweden, 331 

Syndercomb, 351 

Taylor, Jeremy, 211 

Teneriffe, 356 

Thirty Years' War, 22, 65, 352 



Tithes, 320, 321, 325 
Tom Tell-Truth, 20 
Tortuga, 354 
Torture, 5, 44, 378 
Trade, 249—254 
Travelling, 271 
Treason, law of high, 87 
Tunis, 354 

Uxbridge, 174-177 

Valentine, 49, 56 

Vandyke, 256 

Vane, Sir Henry, the elder, 79, 89 

Vane, Sir Henry, the younger, 91, 153, 

205, 207, 244, 277, 301, 310, 312, 314, 

336, 369, 3S4, 386 
Van Tromp, 300—302, 322 
Vaudois, 355 

Venables, General. 354, 355 
Verney, Sir Edmund, 122 

Waller, Sir William, 122, 139, 157, 159, 

167, 172 
Waller, the poet, 137 
Warwick, Robert Rich, Earl of, 300, 364 
Westphalia, Treaty of, 353 
Wexford, 283 
Whalley, Colonel, 223 
Whitelock, Bulstrode, 27S, 369 
Wildman, 335 
William III., 242, 379 
WRlianis, Archbishop of York, 103 
Wilmot, Colonel, 12S 
W'tchcraft, 263 
Worcester, 291—295 
Wroth, Sir Thomas, 225 

Yeomen, 2, 206 

York, 116, US, 15S, 160, 167 



THE END. 



BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, UUILDFOR1J, SURREY. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 



THE COMTB DE P A R I S. 



Translated with the approval of the author, by Louis 
F. Tasistro. Edited by Henry Coppee, LL.D. Each 
volume embracing, without abridgment, two volumes of 
the French edition. With Maps faithfully engraved 
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Half Turkey Morocco, $6.00. 

Vols. I and II now ready. To be complete in Four 
volumes. 



" We advise all Americans to read it carefully, and judge for 
themselves if ' the future historian of our war,' of whom we have 
heard so much, he not already arrived in the Comte de Paris. The 
translation is very good." — The Nation, New Fork. 

" It is so superior to all those preceding it that there is not one 
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" Cannot but prove most valuable and interesting to the Amer- 
ican reader. I find it very good, indeed." — W. T. Sherman, 
General. [OVER.] 



THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA, 



"It is by far the best work which has yet been given to the 
world in connection with the subject of which it treats. . . . 
The Oomte do Paris challenges the admiration of even the South- 
erners, by the fair and philosophical spirit in which he describes 
events, and sets forth their relations to each other. . . . He has 
done for the military institutions and aptitudes of the American 
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tions; and he has written in a more liberal and hopeful spirit. 
... In all cases his criticisms are moderate and apparently 
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" It becomes continually clearer that this is destined to be the 
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for the author, by virtue of being a foreigner, has an impartiality 
which it would be hard for one of us to acquire; he has a satis- 
factory knowledge of both the great principles and the minutice 
of the great struggle, and he spares no pains in search of thor- 
oughness and accuracy. More than this, he is so completely 
master of his subject that he makes clear the most complieated 
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position throughout is that of a judge and not that of an advo- 
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wide circulation among Americans. It gives a succinct account 
of the more important conflicts in which we have been engaged, 
and is in reality a history of the United States Army, the Civil 



BY THE COMTE DE PARIS. 



War being its most extended detail. . . . The presentation of 
political events is fair in spirit and moderate in expression.- . . . 
The work shows great care, and the errors of statement are re- 
markably few and unimportant. The translation is well made." 
— The Galaxy, Neiv York. 

" In this, the first part of his great work on the American War, 
the head of the Orleans family has put pen to paper with excellent 
result. . . . Our present impression is that it will form by far the 
best history of the American War. The translation reads well." 
— The Athenaeum, London, England. 

" The fact that I have been engaged for several years in gather- 
ing material and making other preparation for the writing of a 
history of our civil war has led me to read the Comte de Paris's 
work with greater care and much more critically than I should 
otherwise have done, and I regard it as the only one yet written 
which is, in a proper sense, a history of the Civil War in America. 
It is a thoroughly good history of the War, very much better, 
indeed, than I had thought it possible for any one to write at 
present. 

" The Comte de Paris had two especial dangers to encounter in 
his effort to write impartially of our war. His personal impres- 
sions of the quarrel and of the men who were engaged in it were 
received while he was an officer upon one side, actively engaged 
in military service, and there was every reason to apprehend 
prejudice upon his part against the people whom he was bound to 
regard as enemies. He was a member of the staff of a general 
officer who was afterward a candidate for political preferment, 
and it would have been natural enough for him to espouse the 
personal cause of this chief in all matters pertaining to his cam- 
paigns. Both of these dangers the Comte de Paris seems to me to 
have escaped, and his perfect fairness is not less remarkable than 
his singular accuracy of perception in matters of character and 
motive. His candor and impartiality must add largely to the 
acceptability of his work, both at the North and at the South, and 
it is these qualifications, more than any others, which distinguish 
his history from the many treatises we have from American 
writers on the subject."— Geo. Cary Eggleston, late of Gen. J. 
E. B. Stuart's Cavalry, Confederate Army, author of "A Rebel's 
Recollections," etc. 



LECTURES 

DELIVERED IN AMERICA. 



CHARLES KINGSLEY, 

LATE CANON OF WESTMINSTER, ETC. 

Edited by Mrs. Kingsley. 12mo, Toned Paper, Cloth, $1.25. 



CONTENTS. 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY — THE STAGE AS IT ONCE WAS — THE FIRST 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA— THE SERVANT OF THE 

LORD— ANCIENT CIVILIZATION. 



" We know of no recent book that contains, in the same space, 
so much that is well worth reading." — Boston Courier. 

" The five essays before us exhibit his diversified talents, his 
broad scholarship, his brilliant diction, his penetrating insight, 
his trusty manliness, and his warm, wide-embracing affections; 
... in each one there are a few hints dropped, a few lessons 
taught, and a few chords of emotion vigorously struck, that makes 
us the better for the experience." — Chicago Tribuxe. 

" Very agreeable as well' as useful reading." — The Congrega- 

TIONALIST, Boston. 

J. H. COATES & 00., Publishers, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



For sale by all booksellers, or sent by mail on receipt of price. 



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